William Klein Exhibition at Rencontres d'Arles Permanently Closed Due to Ceiling Fragility

The exhibition "William Klein. This way to Heaven (par ici le paradis)" at the Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles 2026 has been permanently closed. The show, which opened on July 22, was shut down after only 16 days due to fragility in the ceiling of the chapel at the Museon Arlaten. The department of Bouches-du-Rhône, which owns and manages the museum, decided to close the chapel to the public as a precaution. The exhibition was one of the festival's highlights and will not reopen before the festival ends on October 4. Expert assessments are underway, but no reopening date has been announced. The entire cultural program scheduled in the chapel for 2026 has been postponed to 2027. The Rencontres d'Arles has stated that there are no plans to reprogram the exhibition next year. The exhibition was curated by Raphaëlle Stopin, who previously organized the retrospective "Play, Play, Play" at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montélimar from June 29, 2024, to January 6, 2025. The Studio William Klein hopes to find another institution for the traveling exhibition, and the Rencontres d'Arles has offered assistance. The Museon Arlaten, a Provençal ethnography museum, had reopened in May 2021 after an eleven-year renovation.