Photography fans will meet in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) this weekend. After a year and a half of construction, Château d’Eau, a leading institution dedicated to authorial photography, reopens this Saturday, November 22. Inaugurated in 1974 with an exhibition by Robert Doisneau, the building of original design at that time previously housed a pumping station for the waters of the Garonne, which then redistributed them to the city’s fountains. The venue, which belongs to the city hall of Toulouse, has hosted almost 600 exhibitions before taking advantage of this worthy modernization to improve visiting routes.
It has been completely refurbished, and even enlarged with a new wing built under the Pont-Neuf arch, allowing visitors to discover the site in its entirety. Libraries and temporary exhibition spaces have also been redefined.
The Water Tower entrance has been moved to a garden pavilion behind the tower, providing access to gardens that have also been redesigned. The new development also provides access to the entire site for people with limited mobility.
“Today we do not exhibit in the same way as when this place was created, and this renovation allows us to better understand the historical site in which we are located,” explains Magali Blénet, director of Château d’Eau. “It is more suitable because we no longer present photography in the same way, it has evolved with installations and videos. The idea also moves towards dialogue with other visual and plastic forms. »
Circle of life
The honored exhibition “L’Humus du monde” by Sophie Zénon inaugurates the new space until March 8, 2026. Inspired by the circular shape of the building over two floors and galleries, the artist presents a scenography following the metaphor of a circle, evoking the cycle of life and death.
Conceived as a journey through a body of work closely related to the course of life, the exhibition is divided into three chapters covering the three rooms of the Château d’Eau and bringing together more than a hundred works created over 20 years, from around twenty works. “This circular location is a challenge to hang a fantastic metaphor on the idea of death and life,” assures Sophie Zénon. “There is an idea of beauty and fear in the introduction as a key to understanding my entire work. »
In the tower, on the ground floor, visitors discover a view of the war from the plant’s perspective, then in the crypt, visitors work on relationships with the dead and death, especially photographs of the Palermo mummies. The second gallery is dedicated to the artist’s family history, closely linked to Italian immigration to France during the interwar period.
Originality of the exhibition: in two rooms of the Tower, the artist brings his work into dialogue with 17 paintings, sculptures, objects or videos from different periods and continents on loan from five Toulouse museums.
Funded by Toulouse city hall and the regional council of Occitanie, the renovation of Château d’Eau required a budget of 4.2 million euros.
Practical: starting to reopen on Saturday 22 November 2025, Château d’Eau exhibition open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday, from 11.00 to 18.00. Entrance ticket: full price 5 euros, reduced price 3 euros, free according to conditions. More information on the Château d’Eau website.
