A natural pair of keen eyes enables Robert Doisneau to have his own very poetic approach to street photography. Amusing juxtapositions, eccentrics, and oddities of human nature, social classes, and children’s street culture are his usual subjects. Children playing freely in the streets is the theme that Doisneau often revisits during his long career. 

Below are 20 fascinating vintage photographs capture French children playing out in the streets during the 1930s and 1940s by Doisneau: