Helmut Newton squared: a double exhibition opens in Berlin 

This autumn, the Helmut Newton Foundation presents the double exhibition, “Newton’s Riviera” & “Dialogues. Collection FOTOGRAFIS x Helmut Newton”. Just perfect to understand all the nuances of the talented and unique photographer and artist.

The exhibition is from 5 September 2025 to 15 February 2026 – at Helmut Newton FoundationMuseum of Photography – www.helmutnewton.com. 
The current exhibition “Polaroids” remains on view at the Helmut Newton Foundation through 17 August 2025.

“Dialogues. Collection FOTOGRAFIS x Helmut Newton”.

* In the front three rooms, selected photographs from the FOTOGRAFIS collection engage in an intriguing dialogue with photographs by Helmut Newton compiled from the museum’s archive.  With “Dialogues. Collection FOTOGRAFIS x Helmut Newton”, the Helmut Newton Foundation presents a fresh perspective on the work of its founder. This exhibition takes the form of a playful visual experiment – one that fully unfolds through the viewer’s on-site experience.

* The current collaboration, with the Collection FOTOGRAFIS of the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien, comprises more than 60 diptychs. Inspired in part by the Dialogues newsletter from Milan’s Collezione Ettore Molinario – which regularly pairs contrasting images from its archive – the exhibition brings selected photographs from the Viennese collection into dialogue with works by Helmut Newton from the foundation’s own holdings. Each diptych features two portraits, still lifes, landscapes, architectural images, or surreal reinterpretations of fashion and nude photography – shown side by side across different eras. At times the connections are formal, at others thematic. Some combinations may appear humorous or even arbitrary at first glance, but in every case, the interplay between images opens up a broader space for imagination. 

This new experimental exhibition at the Helmut Newton Foundation explores the many facets of human experience and the evolution of social life over the course of a century – through the juxtaposition of Newton’s photographs with “partner images” by Diane Arbus, Alfred Stieglitz, Margaret Bourke-White, Elliott Erwitt, Florence Henri, Duane Michals, Paul Strand, Man Ray, August Sander, Judy Dater, Otto Steinert, and other key figures from the photographic canon of the 19th and 20th centuries.

“Newton’s Riviera”

* In the next area of the exhibition, visitors are presented with a series of photographs Newton took along the Riviera coast, in and around Monte Carlo, as well as at other locations on the Côte d’Azur. Newton’s Riviera includes numerous images being shown in Berlin for the first time. The exhibition features photographs by Helmut Newton from his time along the Riviera coast in the 1980s and 90s.

* At the turn of the year 1981/82, Helmut Newton and his wife June relocated from Paris to Monte Carlo. The move marked not only a shift in their private lives, but also a dramatic change in Newton’s photographic settings and perspective. Gone was the effortless elegance of Parisian chic; in its place, Newton turned his lens on the Riviera’s glamorous social scene – often set against the stark concrete walls of Monaco’s many construction sites. During the 1980s and ‘90s, Newton’s unconventional fashion shoots took him to Cannes and Nice, and later to other parts of the Riviera: Cap d’Antibes, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Menton, and even across the Italian border to Bordighera. Across these locations, he explored his three signature genres – fashion, portrait, and nude – with the region’s distinctive light playing a central role. 

* Photographs taken along the Riviera appear in nearly all of Newton’s exhibitions and publications – from White Women in 1976 to Yellow Press in 2003. The coastline served as a backdrop in countless ways – sometimes spectacularly, sometimes subtly. His final photo shoot, a fashion series for Vogue Italia, also took place on the Monaco coast.

Photography: (C) courtesy of Helmut Newton Foundation.