Erwin Olaf

Erwin Olaf Springveld (2 July 1959 – 20 September 2023), professionally known as Erwin Olaf, was a Dutch photographer from Hilversum. Time magazine described his work as straddling "the worlds of commercial, art and fashion photography at once".

Biography

Erwin Olaf Springveld was born on 2 July 1959 in Hilversum, Netherlands.

Olaf was most famous for his commercial and personal work. He was commissioned to photograph advertising campaigns for large international companies such as Levi's, Microsoft, and Nokia. Some of his most famous photographic series include "Grief", "Rain", and "Royal Blood". Never one to shy away from controversy, Olaf's work was often daring and provocative. Humorously however, one of his early photographs was once expelled from a show on the basis of not containing nudity.

His work received many awards and has been exhibited around the world.

Olaf studied journalism at the School of Journalism in Utrecht. In 2018, he was responsible for the official portraits of the Dutch royal family.

He was an advocate for gay rights. In 2012 he organized a "kiss in" that had around a hundred participants after a snack bar owner had commented on Olaf kissing his boyfriend. He had predicted what the illness would do to him in the third panel of his 2009 self-portrait series I wish, I am, I will be. The , the Dutch non-profit organisation for lung patients, called it very brave that he had been so open about his illness.

Exhibitions 2026: Tender Fury, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam 2025: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam - Solo Exhibition: Freedom A Suspended Tomorrow, 212 Photography, Istanbul, Turkey IN MEMORIAM: ERWIN OLAF (1959-2023), PACI Contemporary Gallery, Brescia, Italy Nowhere but the Night, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam 2024: Bigger Than Life, Hamiltons Gallery, London, UK Erwin Olaf, Kong Gallery, Seoul, South Korea Erwin Olaf: Stages, Houk Gallery, New York, USA Erwin Olaf: Narratives of Emancipation, Desire and Intimacy, Centro Cultural De La Villa, Madrid, Spain 2021: Munich Kunsthalle - Solo Exhibition: Unheimlich schön (irreally beautiful) 2019: Anniversary Solo Show, Gemeente Museum The Hague & The Hague Museum of Photography, The Hague, The Netherlands Palm Springs Unseen, Flatland, Amsterdam 2017: Album 13 d'Indochine, Galerie Rabouan Moussin, Paris, France Human&Nature, Gallery Kong, Seoul, Republic of Korea 2016: Erwin Olaf - Four Series, Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Málaga, Málaga, Spain Cell of Emotions, National Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria Homage Louis Gallait, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia 2015: A Corps Perdu, Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris Erwin Olaf: The Empire of Illusion, Museo de Arte Contemporaine de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina Waiting, Flatland, Amsterdam "Retrospective," Fondation Oriente Museu, Macau, Chine 2014: Art & Fashion, Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris 2013: "Erwin Olaf - Berlin," Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris "Erwin Olaf - Waiting," Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris "Émotions - Installations," La Sucrière, Lyon "Berlin," Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York "Berlin," Hamiltons Gallery, Londres 2012: The Dark Side, Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris "Works 2000 - 2010," Art Statements Gallery, Hong Kong "Erwin Olaf," Kong Gallery, Séoul "Short Stories," Wagner Gallery, Berlin 2011: "Erwin Olaf," Art Statements Gallery, Tokyo "Paradise the club," Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris "High Tension," Carbon, Dubaï "Captured senses," Cer Modern, Ankara "Erwin Olaf," Nordic Light International Festival of Photography, Kristiansund 2010: "Erwin Olaf Hotel," Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris "Erwin Olaf Hotel," Paris-Benijing Gallery, Pékin "Erwin Olaf - Recent Work," Hamiltons Gallery, Londres "Hotel, Dawn & Dusk," Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York 2009 : Dusk, Flatland, Amsterdam "Série Laboral Escena," Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris "Rain, Hope, Grief & Fall," Institut Netherlands, Paris "Darts of Pleasure," Domus Artium Museum, Salamanque "Moving Targets," Haifa Museum of Art, Haïfa

Honours National Medal of Honour for Science and Arts (13 March 2023).