Manfred Paul, who has lived and worked in East Berlin since 1968, is one of the important representatives of GDR auteur photography.

In 1986 Manfred Paul had the opportunity to present his pictures in an exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans. Two years later, he received an invitation to go on a study trip to Paris. For almost six weeks, Paul had the then rare opportunity to explore another country, and so he was eager to see everything and discover new things. The photographer was able to borrow a Leica M3 from an employee of the French Cultural Center in Berlin; through the optical viewfinder of this camera, he experienced Paris in a unique way, which also changed his way of seeing.

The photographs from 1988 have now been extensively exhibited for the first time at the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art, Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus.