“I decided that I needed photographs to attest to certain things that I’d done and that sometimes lasted no more than two hours.” This book presents Daniel Buren’s souvenir-photos taken during his intervention at the Centre Pompidou from June to September 2002. Le Musée qui n’existait pas presented a series of works, many of which had not previously been shown, in both exhibition spaces and other more unusual places. Daniel Buren has photographed his work for nearly forty years. This documentation is all that remains of the greater part of his oeuvre, which no longer exists today. Each published reproduction bears the caption souvenir-photo. This term, with touristic connotations, was chosen by Buren himself in order to underline the fact that these photos are not works of art in themselves, but stem from the artwork.

It is the first book to provide a grammar of Buren’s style, as revealed by the artist.