Philip VI and Queen Letizia pose for Annie Leibovitz on February 7, 2024 at the Royal Palace in Madrid. The session was kept secret and the portraits have now been officially presented to the Bank of Spain. The connection between the king and the American photographer dates back to 2013, when they were still princes of Asturias and in charge of the awards held every October at the Campomor Theater in Oviedo. Then Leibovitz, possessor of the unique ability to capture the essence of his subjects and create iconic images that transcend time, assured that one day “it would be an honor” to photograph Don Felipe and Dona Letizia, while the king showed his enthusiasm for the artist, who in his words , “captures moments to become timeless specimens of sensuality, beauty and love.”
© Gtres“I am deeply grateful to the Prince of Asturias Foundation for this extraordinary honor. In the past, the Prince of Asturias Award has been given to individuals whose work is very important to me. I am delighted and honored to be with them,” said Annie Leibovitz, from New York in May 2013. , upon hearing the news that he had received the prestigious award. The artist was referring to his colleague, the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who received the prize in 1998, and, above all, to his spouse, writer, novelist, philosopher and essayist Susan Sontag, who received the prize from Letters in 2003. , just a year before he died.
© Getty ImagesLeibovitz has a strong past as a photojournalist that connects him to Queen Letizia.
When the month of October 2013 arrived, Annie Leibovitz, the photographer who has photographed the most famous faces of the past fifty years, from Elizabeth II to Michael Jackson, John Lennon to Leonardo DiCaprio, came to Asturias to collect an award. The jury awarded him for being one of the “mobilists of world photojournalism”. At the time, he was already the world’s highest-paid living photographer, his graphic work hung in the planet’s most iconic galleries and museums, and his unique style and dedication to craft influenced generations of photographers and artists around. Vishwa Leibovitz, in a meeting held during the awards week, followed by his many trips to Spain to work with filmmakers such as Pedro Almodóvar, actresses such as Penelope Cruz, to photograph the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao or football player David Beckham during his time there. Remember the words. Real Madrid.
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© Getty ImagesThe photographer was excited, especially because he was about to step on the same stage as his partner Susan Sontag, whose agony at the end of cancer Lebovitz himself captured in a dramatic series of black-and-white photographs: “Thinking about her and meeting her, I have Which means, I didn’t know where my work was taking me and he thought I was good at what I did, but I could be equally good there… I would have been very proud,” he said the day before accepting the award. said in front of the Spanish media.
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From previous meetings with the conquistadors, the connection between Annie Leibovitz and the then princes of Asturias was clear. Although his most recognizable works are portraits of celebrities, Lebowitz is also notable for his ability to combine art with journalism and has a strong past documenting significant historical and social events, as well as the harshness of the conflicts between Sarajevo, Rwanda and Lebanon, among others a past that has him as Queen Letizia. , who during his years as a journalist was special envoy to the United States after 9/11 or the Iraq War.
© Getty Images‘Everything in Leibovitz’s photographs is a dazzling spectacle, a sculptural image, full of beauty’
Philip VI, as Prince of Asturias, was in charge of presenting her with this award and when it came time for the speech, he dedicated a few words to her so that you can still see why Annie Leibovitz was chosen for this award even today? Portrait of the head of state matching his first decade. “In the art of photography, it has not only a universal photographer who has created an amazing collection of portraits of great people of our time, but also a person who has developed his work with the most intensity and the most aesthetic sense. Don Felipe said.
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© Getty Images‘In his portraits, besides capturing the essence of the character, he surrounds him in a special and unmistakable atmosphere’
“Photographs remembered by everyone and personal photographs; world-famous people and their families, everyday objects, landscapes from some indeterminate place… Everything, in Lebovitz’s photographs, is a dazzling spectacle, a sculptural image, full of beauty. In his portraits, of character In addition to capturing the essence, he encapsulates him in a very special and unmistakable atmosphere, and he achieves this with a style that has become a school, taking us through his life. His own views, showing his feelings. Concerns, their interests and their tastes…” added Philip VI. “Someone once wrote that cinema is a miracle that can be seen. Well, photography too, in Lebovitz’s work, is like a miracle: moments captured to become eternal specimens of sensitivity, beauty and love,” concluded a man who had only a year Later the head of state will be announced before the Cortes General.
© Carlos AlvarezAnnie Leibovitz: ‘My mood depends on taking the last picture. If I take a good photo, I am happy, alive. If my picture wasn’t good I felt terrible, failed, depressed.’
On that October 25, 2013, from the stage of the Oviedo Theater, the Connecticut native shared what photography meant to him: “I realized when I was young that what I did was important. In the early seventies, I was lucky enough to be part of a magazine, The Rolling StonesWhere they took me seriously. A girl working at a magazine in the 1970s could be taken as seriously as she could. My life went from one job to another. I photographed the rock concert, but didn’t hear the music. Staring didn’t let me do anything else. The look consumed me. My mood depends on the last photo taken. If I took a good picture, I would be excited, alive. If my pictures weren’t good, I felt terrible, failed, depressed. Until I take the next good picture. I was a photojournalist at first and suddenly I was taking portraits of myself. The portrait gave me the freedom to take sides, express opinions, be conceptual and be able to continue telling stories.”
Why Annie Leibovitz? Ten years later their paths crossed again
In October 2022, the Bank of Spain began the process of commissioning the portraits of Don Felipe and Dona Letizia, which culminated in the selection of Annie Leibovitz to execute it nearly a year later and through an advisory commission. The American photographer’s desire to renew his commitment responds according to the organization that conducts the work. One of the innovative elements is the replacement of pictorial portraiture – which had been prevalent in the gallery since its origins – with photography, also for the first time by a non-Spanish artist. The fact that she was a woman also had an impact, since the aim is to balance the presence of female creators in the collection fund.
© Europa PressAlthough the use of photography represents a novelty, it highlights how Leibovitz knows how to collect traditions and renew Spanish institutional portraiture. From the Bank of Spain they noted that its composition alludes to Velázquez, a court portraitist who was able to capture the visible and invisible from a unique perspective, making the viewer feel like a participant in the scene and thus anticipating the photograph Leibovitz’s portrait of royalty. What struck us was the impression of being able to enter the Gasparini Hall of the Royal Palace of Madrid with the kings.
