François Halard

François Halard (b. 1961, Paris) is a French photographer who has devoted more than forty years to the interiors of artists, designers, architects, and collectors. The son of the interior decorators Michelle and Yves Halard, he studied at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (ENSAD) and the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. One of his earliest commissions — photographing Yves Saint Laurent's Paris apartment — established the direction of his career.

His editorial work has appeared in American Vogue, Vanity Fair, W, GQ, House & Garden, and World of Interiors, producing photographs of the homes and studios of Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Balthus, Carlo Mollino, Richard Avedon, and many others. Beyond editorial commissions, he has developed an autonomous practice built on Polaroid-based works reworked with wax, inks, oil paint, and handwriting, investigating how the accumulated objects and surfaces of a space carry the presence of the people who inhabit it. His books have extended this investigation into a more personal register.

His photobooks include François Halard Photographies (Rizzoli/Actes Sud, 2013), The House That Jack Built (Steidl, 2015), A Visual Diary (2019), Papa (2019, portraits of his father), and 56 Days in Arles (2020, fifty-six Polaroids taken during lockdown). Solo exhibitions have been held at Thoronet Abbey, the Musée d'art de Toulon, Villa Noailles, Design Miami/Basel, and the Robert Morat Galerie in Hamburg. He lives between Arles, Paris, and New York.