Avignon (Flood of 1856) (Avignon [Inondation de 1856])
![Avignon (Flood of 1856) (Avignon [Inondation de 1856]) by Edouard Denis Baldus](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.artheonmuseum.org%2Faic%2Fthumb%2Favignon-flood-of-1856-avignon-inondation-de-1856-aic-223186.webp&w=3840&q=75)
Medium
Salted paper print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 29.3 × 44 cm (11 9/16 × 17 3/8 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
223186
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Acclaimed in his day for architectural photographs and images of the changing French landscape, Édouard Baldus produced several significant commissions for the French government. In June 1856, unprecedented floods in the Rhône Valley destroyed entire sections of Lyon, Avignon, and other towns that dated to Roman times and left tens of thousands homeless. Sent by the government to record the devastation, Baldus returned after eight days with twenty-five negatives that revealed nature’s fury in qu...