Each year, the Cannes Film Festival releases an official poster to announce that edition of the world’s most famous film event. Held on the French Riviera, Cannes has been commissioning unique artwork for these posters since its very first scheduled festival in 1939. Looking at them side by side tells a story about changing tastes in graphic design — and about cinema itself.
The 1939 festival never truly launched — the outbreak of World War II shut it down after just one night. After the war ended, the festival restarted in 1946, this time with not one but two official posters. These early designs leaned heavily on illustration and painting, reflecting both the glamour of Hollywood and a post-war hunger for celebration and international unity.
Through the late 1940s, the festival’s poster art leaned on familiar imagery: film reels, spotlights, palm trees, and the blue Mediterranean. The 1947 festival still awarded prizes nominated by individual countries, meaning nearly every nation left with some form of recognition. Funding trouble forced a gap in 1948, and the festival returned in 1949 with a notably athletic-looking design.
The festival skipped 1950 as well before returning in 1951 with a new dedicated home: the Palais Croisette, later known as the Palais des Festivals. In 1952, the dates shifted from September to April to better align with the start of tourist season on the Riviera. The posters of this period continued to evolve, though some still carried that athletic, Olympic-style aesthetic.
Two landmark decisions came in the mid-1950s. In 1954, a palm leaf motif was added to the festival’s trophies and emblem — and in 1955, the top prize was renamed the Palme d’Or in its honor. Neither development made it onto those years’ posters, which stuck to nautical and coastal themes.
The late 1950s brought a wider range of visual approaches. Some posters nodded to abstract art movements, others favored sun-drenched Mediterranean scenery that looked more like travel advertising than a film event. The range itself reflects a festival still searching for a consistent visual identity.
Into the 1960s, the posters shifted toward modernism. Flat color, bold graphic shapes, and experimental typography replaced the detailed illustrations of earlier years. Artists like Jean Cocteau, who had deep ties to the festival, contributed designs. Jean-Michel Folon also brought a distinctive, imaginative visual language to the event’s promotional art during this decade.
The festival’s 20th anniversary in 1966 was marked by another milestone: Sophia Loren became the second woman ever appointed president of the festival jury, following Olivia de Havilland in 1965. The 1967 poster used light-burst patterns evoking the beams of spotlights, and the 1968 design leaned heavily into celebrating the festival’s 21st year.
By the 1970s and into the 1980s, photography began appearing more regularly on the official posters, sometimes blended with graphic illustration. Artists like Georges Lacroix created memorable work during this period. The range of styles grew broader — from playful, colorful compositions to more atmospheric and conceptual designs.
