Ara Güler Museum, Istanbul

12.09.2025 - 05.04.2026

Robert Capa - Truth is the Best Picture

The Ara Güler Museum, in collaboration with the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Budapest, is honoured to present Truth is the Best Picture, the most comprehensive survey of Robert Capa’s works to date in Turkey. The exhibition is a continuation of the partnership between the two institutions, beginning with the well-received Ara Güler: On Life exhibition hosted by the Capa Center in 2024. Titled Truth is the Best Picture, the show takes its name from one of Capa’s most well-known quotes, capturing the essence of his photographic philosophy: raw, immediate, and grounded in truth.

Robert Capa’s career was defined by a singular drive: to get closer. He famously said; “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”. Courage on the frontlines, both physical and moral, allowed him to capture images with astonishing emotional power. He bore witness not only to war’s violence but also to its victims’ humanity.

Truth is the Best Picture presents an expansive survey of Capa’s work, beginning with his first commissioned assignment, Leon Trotsky delivering a speech in 1932 in Copenhagen, and concluding with the last frames he took in 1954 in Indochina, moments before his tragic and untimely death. In the span of a remarkably brief career of just twenty-two years, he documented many of the century’s most defining global events, indicative of both the turbulent times and conflicts which took place in such a short time span and the depth and prolific nature of his work. The photographs in the exhibition form a visual archive of extraordinary historical value. Together, they show not only Capa’s mastery as an image-maker, but also the birth and evolution of Endre Friedmann into Robert Capa - the photographer and the persona.