Exhibitions
Director’s Inspiration: Agnès Varda

Past Exhibitions

Stories of Cinema:

Director’s Inspiration: Agnès Varda

November 3, 2022–January 5, 2025

Previously presented on Level 2 (L2) in the Wanda Gallery

About the Exhibition

The Director's Inspiration gallery focuses on the filmography and cinematic influences of a director who has established a narrative and visual style that is unmistakably their own, traceable through bodies of work that become touchstones for other filmmakers.

Agnès Varda (1928–2019) was one of global cinema’s most radical and transformative artists. Known for her undeniably personal films, Varda drew inspiration from diverse sources. This gallery explores various influences on the filmmaker’s work including her background in photography, her passion for fine art later in life, as well as her ties to family, location, and social issues throughout her career. The gallery explores these themes through Varda’s personal artifacts, including original photographs, postcards, maps, scrapbooks, and props. At the heart of the gallery, a media installation inspired by Varda’s fondness of triptychs explores themes that appear throughout her body of work such as still imagery, family, and her beloved beaches.

Director’s Inspiration: Agnès Varda is located on Level 2 of the Stories of Cinema exhibition and is curated by Senior Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel with former Assistant Curator Ana Santiago and support from former Curatorial Assistant Manouchka Kelly Labouba.

Director’s Inspiration: Agnès Varda, Stories of Cinema, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, photo by Joshua White, JW Pictures/©Academy Museum Foundation
Director’s Inspiration: Agnès Varda, Stories of Cinema 2, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Photo by Joshua White, JW Pictures/ © Academy Museum Foundation. 
Director’s Inspiration: Agnès Varda, Stories of Cinema, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, photo by Joshua White, JW Pictures/©Academy Museum Foundation
Director’s Inspiration: Agnès Varda, Stories of Cinema, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, photo by Joshua White, JW Pictures/©Academy Museum Foundation

Exhibition Catalogue

Explore the Book
Agnès Varda: Director’s Inspiration presents the first English-language visual showcase for Varda’s inspirations, art, and personal life, incorporating original materials from her personal archive. The book covers Varda’s “three lives”—as photographer, filmmaker, and visual artist—and features a previously unpublished interview Varda gave to the Academy when receiving her Honorary Oscar in 2017. The book also features essays by author Sasha Archibald and film critic Peter Debruge as well as personal reflections by friends and colleagues, including Martin Scorsese and Chloé Zhao.

Supported By

Dolby is the exclusive audio sponsor of this gallery.

Stories of Cinema is presented by PwC. Major funding is provided by Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman. Generous support is provided by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Ruderman Family Foundation, FotoKem, Barbara Roisman Cooper and Martin M. Cooper, Jocelyn R. Katz, John Ptak and Margaret Black, Lauren Shuler Donner, Randy E. Haberkamp, Kevin McCormick and A. Scott Berg, CHANEL, and John and Lacey Williams. Technology solutions generously provided by Panasonic and Sony Electronics Inc. Powered by Dolby. Academy Museum digital engagement platform sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Stories of Cinema 3 is located on Level 3 in the Rolex Gallery.