MUSÉE GRANET - Self-guided tour of the exhibition Paul McCartney, photograph 1963–64: Eyes of the storm

Exhibition running from 4 July 2026 to 3 January 2027

It is thanks to the rediscovery in 2020, in Paul McCartney’s archives, of nearly a thousand photographs taken by the artist with a 35mm camera that this deeply personal account of this decisive period in the band’s evolution has come to light. The artist captures the Beatles’ extraordinary journey, from city to city, from Europe to the United States: Liverpool and London in late 1963, Paris, then the United States in February 1964, where their performance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ was watched by around 73 million viewers.

These images offer a glimpse into the private lives of these four lads from Liverpool on tour, as they begin to travel the world and discover the United States for the first time. It is less than 20 years since the end of the Second World War, and this country is seen by Paul McCartney – and, more broadly, by many Europeans – as the nation that liberated Europe. At the time, it embodied a certain modernity. It was a source of fascination.
These photographs capture the intensity of the concerts, the long days spent rehearsing, in hotels and on the road, under the scrutiny of the media at every stage of their journey. For these four young men, already famous, everything was a new discovery… They also convey the atmosphere and aesthetic unique to the 1960s.  Through these photographs, visitors will (re)discover a society that has now vanished – here through a car’s rear-view mirror or a train window, there on a stretch of pavement outside the Olympia in Paris, where the Beatles were due to perform alongside Sylvie Vartan… These are all photos often taken ‘on the fly’, blurred, though sometimes framed more carefully. Paul McCartney loves photography, which he has practised with his brother since childhood, thanks to the family’s first camera, a Kodak Brownie.

The exhibition will therefore be organised chronologically and will comprise seven key sections: Behind the Lens; The Beatles’ Early Years: Liverpool and London; Paris; Departures and Arrivals: New York; From New York to Washington; Miami.


Audio guides are available for hire in several languages (French, English, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese) for 4 €, directly at the Granet Museum.