Anton Corbijn
Corbijn, Anton
The story of Anton Corbijn begins in the quiet corners of a small Dutch island, where he grew up as the son of a vicar. For a young Corbijn, music was an escape, a passion that consumed him. His camera soon became both a tool and a companion, a way to channel his fascination with music and, perhaps more importantly, a means to navigate his own shyness. When Corbijn moved to London in 1979, the city was electric with the energy of bands like The Clash, The Jam, and Joy Division. Within ten days of arriving in England, he managed to photograph Joy Division claiming he was on assignment for a major Dutch magazine, even though he hadn’t been officially commissioned.
Now, having celebrated his 70th birthday last year, Corbijn looks back on over five decades of work that spans photography, music videos, and film. Corbijn, Anton celebrates his 50-year career and revisits his extensive body of work. Here, you will encounter nearly 150 pieces: iconic portraits of legends like Depeche Mode, Tom Waits, U2, the Rolling Stones, Martin Scorsese, and Marlene Dumas, as well as German icons Nina Hagen, Herbert Grönemeyer, Einstürzende Neubauten and Wim Wenders. His signature black-and-white grainy aesthetic became a defining visual language in his work.
“The camera is a wonderful instrument to connect yourself to people, to give yourself a purpose, to say something to somebody. That’s what I found when I was younger because I was super shy. But I was somehow driven by the desire to do something with the camera, and that overrode the shyness.”
Corbijn’s photography is defined by an ability to cut through the noise and capture what truly matters. He is using the camera not just as a tool, but as a bridge to forge deep, lasting creative partnerships. This approach shines through in his decades-long collaborations, whether through iconic portraits, groundbreaking music videos, or defining visual identities. Under his artistic direction, bands like Depeche Mode have shaped their visual language, and as U2’s photographer for over four decades, he has done the same. Rather than simply documenting artists, Corbijn creates a dialogue that endures, crafting connections that resonate in every frame.
“Corbijn, Anton has been curated in close collaboration with the artist himself, showcasing not only his most iconic and recognizable images but also a more personal, rarely seen selection of his own favorite works. Over the past five decades, Corbijn has captured legendary figures from the worlds of music and film, shaping how we see many of the cultural icons of our time.”
CREDITS
This exhibition is curated by Johan Vikner (Global Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiska) in close collaboration with the artist. Co-curated by Claire Ducresson-Boët (Exhibitions Manager at Fotografiska Berlin).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A polymath in photography, music videos, feature films, graphic design, and commercials, Dutchman Anton Corbijn is perhaps best known for immortalizing some of the greatest artists of our time. His iconic portraits of musicians, directors, and artists, such as Joy Division, Depeche Mode, Tom Waits, U2, the Rolling Stones, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Gerhard Richter, Ai Weiwei, Marlene Dumas among others, are praised for the way they capture the soul and charisma of his subjects.
Effortlessly moving in the early 80s from photography into music videos, Corbijn has since made over 80 promos for people like U2, Johnny Cash, Arcade Fire, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Metallica, Nick Cave, Coldplay, and The Killers. He is the Artistic Director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode. For U2 he has done the principal promotion and sleeve photography for four decades.
In 2006 Corbijn started working on his first feature film Control about the life, and death, of Ian Curtis, Joy Division’s lead singer. The film won many awards worldwide, including 5 BIFAs and the Camera d’Or Special Mention at Cannes Film Festival 2007. Corbijn has since made The American starring George Clooney (2010), A Most Wanted Man, based on the novel by John Le Carré and featuring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (2014), and Life, about James Dean and photographer Dennis Stock, which stars Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan (2015).
In 2023, Corbijn released his first feature documentary Squaring The Circle about the iconic album art design studio Hipgnosis. In 2025, he directed his fifth feature film titled Switzerland starring Helen Mirren.