Few photographers have blurred the lines between fashion and art as seamlessly as husband-and-wife duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Make what you will of their aesthetic, but their influence is undeniable. With a career spanning over four decades, it feels only fitting that they mark the milestone with an exhibition. And they have. On the 21st March, the legendary duo’s retrospective, Can Love Be A Photograph 40 Years of Inez & Vinoodh opened at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Netherlands – a sweeping, idea-led show that brings their images into sharp new focus.
Early in their career, the pair established themselves as pioneers of digital image-making, long before such tools became industry standard. “Once we started using digital manipulation, we began to understand the endless and exciting possibilities. We decided to use it to show an inner world that you normally wouldn’t be able to photograph. And again, this might sound hard to grasp, but for us, it was about how, by altering a body on the computer, you could heighten something underneath the surface. You can reveal something else,” says van Lamsweerde. Visitors can glimpse these early explorations where seminal series such as Thank You Thigh Master and Final Fantasy from the 90s are brought together to reveal the beginnings of this now-signature approach.
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Rather than charting their career in a linear timeline, the exhibition is organised thematically across 18 galleries, allowing works from different decades to sit in conversation. The decision, van Lamsweerde explains, was deliberate. “When you organize a show chronologically, it can get very depressing and far away from the way our work lives inside us. It’s about the ideas, rather than, you know, in 1999 they did this, and then they did that etc,” she shares. Among the themes explored is (Un)Real, where images challenge the notion of photography as a straightforward reflection of reality, instead presenting carefully constructed scenes that blur the line between fact and fiction. In The Mannequin, frozen gestures and size take centrestage. Elsewhere, In Print brings together decades of editorial work, underscoring the duo’s long-standing relationship with magazines, where their images have defined the visual language of fashion for years. Their work with Vogue forms a key part of that legacy, from the Vogue Arabia March 2017 cover with Gigi Hadid to Vogue US October 2018 with Lady Gaga. Their portfolio also spans the landmark March 2017 cover of Vogue US, photographed on a Malibu beach, which brought together Ashley Graham, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid in a moment that reflected shifting ideas of representation within the industry.
The exhibition also turns its attention to contemporary cultural figures in the New Gods section, where musicians, actors and public personalities are presented. For van Lamsweerde, their influence reflects a shift in how younger audiences connect with culture. “The younger generation is thinking differently about spirituality, and they can have a spiritual experience when they go to a concert of someone who touches them deeply with their sound,” she says, pointing to figures such as Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny and Taylor Swift. “Someone like Taylor Swift has provided the soundtrack to so many young women’s lives.”
The title (of the exhibit) itself is not posed as a question so much as a statement. For the duo, the act of photographing someone is rooted in attention and exchange. “The act of truly deeply seeing someone, and appreciating them through photographing them, is an act of love,” she says. It is also, she adds, a reflection of their own partnership. “It’s 40 years of me and Vinoodh, and our life and love together. On top of that It’s the love for the people we work with, and the teams that have supported us throughout,” she concludes.
On display at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag until 6 September 2026
