Eva Besnyö - The Liberated Camera
5 Sep - 31 Jan 2027
This autumn, Fotomuseum Den Haag is presenting one of the largest retrospective exhibitions ever of Eva Besnyö’s work. Photographer Eva Besnyö (1910–2003) was not only a witness to, but also a driving force behind, the emancipation of photography. Together with her contemporaries, she experimented freely with a new visual language: moving away from painting, focused on reality, captured up close and full of dynamism.
The exhibition
This exhibition comprises photographs from our own collection, the largest Besnyö collection in the world. Set against the backdrop of a Europe undergoing radical change, the exhibition traces Besnyö’s life: from her first experiences with the camera in Budapest and her formative years in the gritty Berlin of the 1930s to her life and career in Bergen and later Amsterdam, where she was part of a progressive creative network. The Second World War, which left a deep mark on her life, and her involvement in the Dolle Mina movement in the 1970s are also featured. Featuring vintage prints, archive material, magazines, letters and personal documents, the exhibition offers a rich portrait of Besnyö’s body of work and of the twentieth century, in which political upheavals and the struggle for women’s emancipation are closely intertwined with her life and work.
New Photography
Stylistically, much of Eva Besnyö’s work belongs to the New Photography movement, a movement in which the camera was used to show the world in a new, objective and experimental way. Surprising camera angles, strong diagonal lines and clear compositions are characteristic of this movement. With a keen eye, she captures people, cities, architecture and social changes. Her photographs show the world as it was: modern, dynamic and constantly in flux.
Largest collection of Besnyö
In 2023, Fotomuseum Den Haag / Kunstmuseum Den Haag acquired a significant collection of 341 prints by the photographer Eva Besnyö. All these photographs were printed in the darkroom by Besnyö herself or under her supervision. The collection includes, amongst other things, the well-known portrait of the little boy with the bass, portraits of artist friends such as Charley Toorop and Violette Cornelius, and the street scene taken on Starnberger Straße in Berlin, featuring the diagonal lines so characteristic of her work.
This collection belonged to Iara Brusse, Besnyö’s daughter. The acquisition of the collection was made possible through a combination of purchase and donation, with support from the Erik Bos Fund.
Self-portrait with a Rolleiflex camera, Berlin, 1931 © Eva Besnyö / Maria Austria Institute
| Tuesday |
11:00 – 17:00
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| Wednesday |
11:00 – 17:00
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| Thursday |
11:00 – 17:00
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| Friday |
11:00 – 17:00
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| Saturday |
11:00 – 17:00
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| Sunday |
11:00 – 17:00
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| up to and including 18 years of age | Free |
| up to 25 years old & students | 7,00 |
| Normal | 16,00 |
