Place Pigalle

When photographing this newly remodeled nightclub in the Place Pigalle section of Montmartre, Eugène Atget deviated from his usual subject matter, Paris's historic architecture. Atget may have chosen to photograph this building to illustrate the sharp contrast between its flat, comparatively windowless planes and the colonnaded buildings that surround it.

Although this structure is new, the Place Pigalle had been a center of bawdy nightlife since at least the 1870s, when artists and writers frequented its bohemian cafes and music halls. Despite the Place Pigalle's colorful history, Atget seems not to have photographed here until 1925, when he made this picture. Today's tourists still frequent the area's strip joints, drag shows, and discotheques.