Dirk De Herder

In the world of photography, Dirk De Herder was known as «the poet»; not only for his images, which are invariably infused with a poetic atmosphere but also for his talent for making one dream out of almost nothing. His images, of great simplicity, captivate. His humanistic vision brings to mind Boubat, Brassai, Kertesz, and Ronis. As a young man, his ambition was to become a painter, but the need to earn a living pushed him towards photography. A close friend of painters from the artistic movement CoBrA, he portrayed them in photographs. He worked mainly in black and white, except for a period of ten years or so when, in order to make ends meet, he produced colour portraits for radio and television. Over his lifetime, he published a dozen or so books. From 1979 on, he spent much of his time in his residence in Roussines (Charente), all the while remaining very active. He is represented in the collections of the Nederlandsfotomuseum in Rotterdam.