‘Oasis, Hội An, Vietnam, 2022’ by Réhahn
Half a century after the Vietnam War ended, the world still largely associates the nation with images of conflict. The French-born fine art photographer known as Réhahn is out to change that.
In Vietnam, where Réhahn has lived for the last 17 years, he has built a successful career producing portraits of each of the country’s 54 ethnic tribes, documenting their traditions before they disappear. His best-known photographs, including ‘An Phuoc’ – a portrait of a Vietnamese girl with bright blue eyes – and ‘Hidden smile’, have become online sensations, while in London and the US, original editions of his work can sell for $50,000. But, Réhahn claims, his homeland has been slower to acknowledge his talent.
This may be about to change. Since the Covid pandemic prevented him from travelling around Vietnam, he has been experimenting with a new form of photography that brings together his love of Impressionism with his passion for his adopted country.
“I’m a frustrated painter,” says Réhahn. “During the pandemic, after reading books of Van Gogh’s correspondence, I started to think about what he would have painted if he had come to Vietnam. He would have liked the yellow rice fields and Monet would have liked the lotus.”
‘Flame, Hội An, Vietnam, 2022’ by Réhahn
Réhahn became interested in producing photographs that looked like Impressionist paintings, without the use of Photoshop. First, he took shots of landscapes and people reflected in water, creating a woozy, brushstroke effect. Then, he photographed farmers burning their fields, seen through the distorting smoke. He shot all day and got two good images.
The field-burning takes place one day a year, so he must wait until April to try again. There is something about the ephemerality of the process, though, that connects his work to the Impressionists, who were forever chasing fleeting light.
Réhahn has already shown some of these photographs in Honfleur in Normandy, one of the cradles of Impressionism, where he spent much of his youth and still owns a house. He has his eyes, though, on a bigger prize – an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which would confer the kind of acceptance often denied to living artists. “That’s the dream,” he says.
‘Illusion, Hội An, Vietnam, 2023’ by Réhahn
Réhahn selects his ‘Best shots’ in the April-June issue of the RPS Journal.
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