The four photographs acquired by MuMa are part of a set of 24 images taken at Le Havre by Italian artist Gabriele Basilico as part of a national photography commission launched by DATAR (French Delegation for Territorial Development and Regional Action) in 1984. The first vast public commission since the war, the campaign was entrusted to a number of major international artists with the aim of proposing "a representation of the contemporary landscape to promote its recognition, understanding and transformation."

Basilico was responsible for the coast of Northern France from Cherbourg to Dunkirk. He stopped in Le Havre, discovered the rebuilt city centre and captured the new buildings that had been erected since Lucien Hervé was there in 1956. But he also branched out to explore the harbour areas, new urban spaces undergoing constant change.
These four works are an interesting historic continuation of the photographs Lucien Hervé shot in 1956 for the first commission to photograph Le Havre.