There are the new exhibitions that we discover and that come and go, and others that we almost forget, simply because they are always there.
And then one day, we come back to it. This is the case of "The Family of Man", permanently installed at Clervaux Castle, in northern Luxembourg.
Far from being an ordinary exhibition, it unfolds like a journey, almost an initiatory path through the lives and faces of humanity. We move seamlessly from birth to death. Children, families, couples, crowds, simple, repeated, universal gestures… Nothing is spectacular, and yet everything is there.
The collection follows this silent movement: it unfolds a life, or rather intertwined lives—those of individuals, families, entire societies. It is also a journey around the world, a sensitive cartography of human diversity. The images come from everywhere, from very different contexts, and yet something analogous connects them: faces change, places change, but expressions and emotions resonate with one another in harmony, strangely close, almost identical. The images are anchored in their time, and yet they transcend it; they could belong to yesterday as well as today. We recognize everything, without always being able to say why.
Conceived by Edward Steichen—an American photographer and painter of Luxembourgish origin—in the 1950s, while he was head of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the exhibition was designed as a comprehensive project. For several years, Steichen searched archives, contacted photographers, and gathered 4 million photographs from around the world, ultimately selecting 503 images by 273 artists from 68 countries. With these images, he created a mirror of humanity, aiming to forge connections between peoples—a true manifesto for peace and the fundamental equality of humankind.
First presented at MoMA in 1955, this exhibition marked a turning point. The photographs, including works by artists such as Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Robert Doisneau, August Sander, and Ansel Adams, were staged in a modernist and spectacular manner. The images were not simply hung: they occupied the space, changed scale, and engaged in a dialogue with one another. Some were suspended, others lined up, and still others stood alone. The gaze was constantly engaged: one looked up, approached, and stepped back; and the body followed. One did not merely look, but moved through the space.
Very quickly, the exhibition became a global phenomenon. It traveled, crossing continents and attracting nearly 10 million visitors. In an era marked by postwar tensions, Steichen offered a simple idea, almost fragile in the face of global divisions, yet possessing a singular power: that of a shared humanity. The exhibition has sometimes been criticized for its overly unified vision of the world, described by some authors as "sentimental humanism." But faced with the evocative power of the images, this criticism seems almost secondary.
After its international tour, the collection was bequeathed to Luxembourg in the 1960s. Inscribed on UNESCO's "Memory of the World" register, the exhibition « "The Family of Man" is part of the Steichen Collections of the National Audiovisual Centre. Accessible for much of the year, it is presented at the Château de Clervaux, in an installation faithful to the original spirit.
As one looks through this collection of photographs, one gets the feeling that nothing has truly aged. The images don't try to explain: they are simply there, silent, almost timeless presences. A birth, a wedding, a bereavement; a glance, a waiting, an absence… Ordinary scenes, but which, taken together, acquire an almost universal dimension.
We move forward without instructions. Some images slip by, others impose themselves. We go back, we hesitate. Our gaze wanders from one photograph to another, and sometimes, a detail catches our attention, like this photograph of a family together, evoking a timeless moment of tenderness. In Africa, in the United States, from country to country, faces change, clothes change, settings change too, and yet, the same thread remains. And at the same time, everything varies: we perceive the characteristics of the society in which the images are situated, with its codes, its relationships. This is where the exhibition reveals its subtle composition: it doesn't erase the differences, it allows them to appear, gently, amidst this harmonious whole.
And then, simultaneously, another kind of relationship with these photographs emerges. Because "The Family of Man" isn't limited to the exhibition: there's also the book, the one you keep without really knowing why, the one that endures through the years. Mine was given to me at birth; it's been with me ever since. And I always return to it, for no particular reason, but finding the same feeling of fulfillment. It's a book you open at random; you stumble upon a different image each time, or perhaps the same one, but viewed differently. It's a book you keep, and then pass on in turn, so that the images continue their journey, finding new resonances in each new perspective.
In both the exhibition and the book, there is no imposed narrative, only a succession of fragments. And within this collection, one idea persists, simple, almost self-evident: that of a shared humanity.
« The Family of Man
Clervaux Castle
Montée du Château, Clervaux (Luxembourg)
Permanent exhibition, open from March 18, 2026 to January 1er January 2027
