Elliott Erwitt

The retrospective Through the Playful Eyes of Elliott Erwitt at Fotografiska Stockholm celebrates one of the most perceptive and humorous eyes in the history of photography. The exhibition brings together over 100 images from seven decades of Elliott Erwitt’s iconic photography, where the small moments of mundane life are filled with warmth, irony, and humanity.

biggest stories are found in the smallest moments

Elliott Erwitt (1928–2023) was a master of being in the right place at the right time and of seeing humor in the serious. Through the Playful Eyes of Elliott Erwitt opens on February 13 at Fotografiska Stockholm, a major retrospective spanning seven decades of Elliott Erwitt’s groundbreaking career and showing more than 100 images filled with warmth, humanity, and his characteristic humor.

Elliott Erwitt last exhibited his work at Fotografiska in 2013 and remains one of our biggest audience favourites to this day.

Through the Playful Eyes of Elliott Erwitt is an extensive tribute to his photographic legacy, featuring a wide range of works never before shown at Fotografiska. These include portraits of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Andy Warhol, as well as several rarely seen colour photographs.

“We are incredibly happy to start the year with such an extensive exhibition featuring one of the greatest legends in the history of photography. This is a tribute to a photographer who, with simplicity, perception, and empathy, showed that the biggest stories are often found in the smallest moments,” says Jessica Jarl, Global Director of Exhibition at Fotografiska.

from proms to the White House

Elliott Erwitt was born in Paris to Russian parents, grew up in Milan, and emigrated to the United States in 1939. After developing an early interest in photography in Hollywood and New York, he joined the Magnum Photos agency in 1953 at the invitation of its co-founder Robert Capa, and Erwitt later served as president of Magnum Photos for three years.

Erwitt’s images have been published worldwide for more than half a century and have become iconic, from political moments like the Kitchen Debate between Nixon and Khrushchev to deeply human portraits, like the image of Jackie Kennedy at John F. Kennedy’s funeral.

“Shyness helped to make me a photographer. In high school I discovered that a camera gets you into situations where you don’t really belong. Then it was proms; now, it’s the White House or the back rooms of the Kremlin,” according to Elliott Erwitt.

Through the Playful Eyes of Elliott Erwitt shows iconic black and white photographs, playful color images, and several rarely shown works. The images are presented thematically in such series as Cities, Between the Sexes, Regarding Women, Kids, On the Beach, Personalities, Museum Watching, Abstraction, and Dogs, the latter shown as a slideshow. Elliott Erwitt combined the mundane with the human condition, which was depicted with a subtle, but loving, irony and a twinkle in his eye. And of course, with his favorite subjects dogs – lots of dogs.

The exhibition Through the Playful Eyes of Elliott Erwitt runs from February 13 to May 17, 2026 at Fotografiska Stockholm.