Nadar: Portraits, Balloons, the Catacombs and the 1874 Show

Nadar was the pseudonym of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910), a French caricaturist, journalist, portrait photographer and balloonist.¹ For example, he photographed many writers and artists of Paris, tried photography from a balloon, and took pictures in the Catacombs and the sewers with artificial light. In short, this article sets out what museums and archives confirm, and which popular claims they do not support.

Nadar at a Glance

Item	What the sources say
Real name	Gaspard-Félix Tournachon; “Nadar” is the name he used
Life span	1820–1910
Portraits	He began making photographic portraits in 1855
Artificial light	Experiments from 1859; patent filed in 1861
Catacombs and sewers	About one hundred Catacombs images in 1862; sewers in 1865
Studio	35 boulevard des Capucines, Paris, a building earlier used by the Bisson brothers and Gustave Le Gray
First Impressionist exhibition	15 April to 15 May 1874, in the former Nadar studios
Archive	Negatives at the Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine; prints, letters and drawings at the BnF

First, the BnF dossier on its 2018 exhibition supplies most of these dates.²

Who Was Nadar? Caricaturist First, Photographer Second

For example, the Met describes him as a bohemian writer, journalist, caricaturist, portrait photographer, balloonist and entrepreneur who “invented himself over and over”. According to the BnF, he planned the Panthéon Nadar in 1852, a set of four large lithographs of contemporary writers and artists.³

The family behind the name Nadar

In addition, the BnF presents the Nadars as three photographers: Félix, his brother Adrien Tournachon (1825–1903), and Félix’s son Paul Nadar (1856–1939). Paul took over the family studio and became the first French representative of Eastman Kodak, according to the BnF.⁴

Nadar Portraits and the Boulevard des Capucines Studio

For instance, the Met lists among his sitters Dumas, Rossini, Baudelaire, Sarah Bernhardt, Daumier, Berlioz, George Sand and Delacroix. Moreover, it adds that many were his friends.⁵ However, the Met also warns that his name became attached to reprints, copies and a great deal of studio work. For that reason, its catalogue reproduces about one hundred photographs from 1854 to 1860, the period it calls his earliest and finest.

The studio at 35 boulevard des Capucines

Next, the BnF says he took over the building at 35 boulevard des Capucines, which had been occupied by the Bisson brothers and Gustave Le Gray. Eventually, after the studio went bankrupt, he moved to a private house on rue d’Anjou.⁶ For more on how portraits are read as pictures, see our article on the aesthetics of portrait photography.

The 1874 Impressionist Exhibition in the Former Nadar Studio

In fact, the French Ministry of Culture states that the first exhibition of the group later called the Impressionists ran from 15 April to 15 May 1874 at 35 boulevard des Capucines, in the former Nadar studios. Moreover, it gives the rent as 2,020 francs, according to the society’s financial statement of 27 May 1874.⁷ Therefore, the sources call these premises his former studios, so the show was not held in a working Nadar studio.

Nadar and Balloons: What Is Documented

The 1858 patent

First, in 1858, the BnF says, he filed a patent for using photography in topographic surveys and military operations. However, the Paris Catacombs exhibition page adds that, after many failed attempts, he took what are considered the first aerial photographs of Paris in 1868.⁸ Likewise, our guide to drone photography covers the modern descendant of that idea.

Le Géant and Daumier’s lithograph

Meanwhile, the Paris page mentions the 45-metre balloon Le Géant and says he turned his flights into media events. In addition, the Met’s catalogue lists Honoré Daumier’s lithograph Nadar élevant la Photographie à la hauteur de l’Art, dated 25 May 1862.⁹

Nadar Underground: the Catacombs and the Sewers

The BnF states that he filed a patent for photography by artificial light in 1861. Then, in 1862, he photographed the Catacombs, producing about a hundred images, and in 1865 he photographed the sewers.¹⁰ Furthermore, the BnF adds that these reports were news stories, because they documented the sanitation work ordered after outbreaks of cholera.

How Nadar lit the Catacombs: sources disagree

First, the Getty says he lit the Catacombs with a magnesium lamp and dates its prints to 1861.¹¹ Second, MoMA holds a test photograph titled Test Obtained in the Catacombs of Paris Using the Serrin Regulator, dated April 1862, and the Serrin regulator was an electric-arc device.¹² Third, the Paris exhibition page speaks of electric light. Because of this, we do not state one method as settled.

Mannequins in the Catacombs

Moreover, the Getty says the figures that look like workers were life-like mannequins. It also repeats a story that Nadar made an 18-minute exposure for a self-portrait, but hedges it with “the story goes”, and so do we.

Paul Nadar, the Chevreul Interview and the Nadar Archive

In 1886, according to the BnF, Nadar and Paul produced the first illustrated interview with on-the-spot photographs, for the centenary of the scientist Chevreul. Later, while based in Marseille, he photographed workers building the Pinède basin at about ten metres underwater for Le Petit Marseillais, in 1899–1900.¹³

Subsequently, the archive reached the state after the death of Paul’s daughter Marthe in 1948. Finally, the negatives are held by the Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, and the prints, correspondence and drawings are at the BnF.

Seeing Nadar in 2026

First, the BnF showed Les Nadar, une légende photographique from 16 October 2018 to 3 February 2019, with about 300 objects.¹⁴ Second, the Catacombs of Paris present Nadar : inventer Paris, des profondeurs au ciel from 29 September 2026 to 31 January 2027, as part of the Bicentenary of Photography. It shows reproductions because the originals are fragile, and Paris Musées acquired about twenty original Catacombs photographs in 2023.¹⁵

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Nadar?

In short, he was Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910), a caricaturist, journalist, photographer and balloonist known by the name Nadar.

Did Nadar take the first aerial photograph?

In short, sources are cautious. The BnF says “some of the first”, and the Paris page dates the aerial photographs it calls the first of Paris to 1868.

Was the first Impressionist exhibition held in Nadar’s studio?

In fact, it was held in his former studios at 35 boulevard des Capucines, from 15 April to 15 May 1874.

Where is the Nadar archive?

Specifically, the negatives are at the Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, and the prints, letters and drawings are at the BnF.

Further Reading

• Maria Morris Hambourg, Françoise Heilbrun and Philippe Néagu, Nadar, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995 (free PDF).
• BnF press kit, Les Nadar, une légende photographique and the BnF online exhibition.
• Ministère de la Culture, “1874 – Première exposition”.
• Getty, “Sixty-Five Feet Under”.
• Ville de Paris, Nadar : inventer Paris, des profondeurs au ciel.

Sources and Limits for Nadar

Sources used

First, the biography, patents, Catacombs, sewers and archive come from the BnF. Second, the portraits and sitters come from the Met’s catalogue, and the 1874 show comes from the Ministry of Culture. In addition, the Catacombs details come from the Getty, MoMA and the City of Paris. Finally, the four images come from Wikimedia Commons, and all are in the public domain or CC0.

Limits of what we could verify

First, the exact birth and death days differ: one encyclopedia gives 5 April 1820 and 20 March 1910 in Paris, another source cited there gives 6 April and 23 March, and some sources name Lyon as the birthplace.¹⁶ For that reason, we give only the years. Second, the sources disagree on the lighting method and on 1861 versus 1862 for the Catacombs. Third, we did not read the Met catalogue in full, and we read the BnF kit and the Paris page through text extraction. In addition, we did not repeat the claims that he photographed against plain backgrounds or held long conversations with every sitter, because we found no source for them. Finally, we did not verify the Géant flights or the dates of the 1863 accident.

1. Life span and professions: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nadar (1995 catalogue). The exact days of his birth and death differ between sources; see the limits at the end.
2. Bibliothèque nationale de France, press kit for Les Nadar, une légende photographique. However, the kit does not date the studio move precisely.
3. Met, Nadar; BnF press kit.
4. BnF press release for The Nadars: A photographic legend.
5. Met, Nadar. MoMA’s online collection also holds Nadar portraits such as Rossini and Delacroix: MoMA artist page.
6. BnF press kit. The kit gives no exact year for the takeover, so we give none.
7. Ministère de la Culture, “1874 – Première exposition”.
8. Patent: BnF press kit. The 1868 statement: Ville de Paris, exhibition page. The BnF press release more cautiously says he took “some of the first” aerial photographs, so we avoid the phrase “the first aerial photograph”.
9. Ville de Paris, exhibition page; Met, Nadar, list of works in the publication. The National Gallery of Art dates its impression to 1862.
10. BnF online exhibition, “Electric Light” and press kit.
11. Getty, “Sixty-Five Feet Under” (29 October 2025).
12. MoMA, Nadar artist page. That a Serrin regulator was an electric-arc regulator is general knowledge that we did not check against a source.
13. BnF press kit. The kit says the archive’s buyer was the state; its text gives 1948 for the decision to sell and 1950 for the acquisition.
14. BnF press release; curators Sylvie Aubenas and Anne Lacoste.
15. Ville de Paris, exhibition page. Therefore, check the page for current hours and ticket rules.
16. Wikipedia, “Nadar”, a secondary source. The BnF press kit gives only the years.