Robert Capa and Gerda Taro: photography, love, war

The exhibition Robert Capa and Gerda Taro: photography, love, war offers an intense look at the lives and contributions to the history of photography of the exceptional duo formed by Robert Capa e Gerda Taro. In around 120 photographs, the exhibition recounts the professional and emotional bond that developed between them, culminating tragically in the death of Gerda Taro during the Spanish Civil War in 1937.

Having fled Nazi Germany and Hungary respectively, the two met in Paris in 1934, falling in love the following year and starting an artistic and sentimental collaboration. Committed to photography and political struggle, they took on the pseudonyms of Robert Capa e Gerda Taro to face the difficulties of the Parisian publishing world.

1936 turned out to be the decisive year, when they headed to Spain to document the civil war. Capa captures the iconic image of the militiaman shot dead, while Taro takes a memorable photo of a militiawoman in training, symbolising female participation in the conflict.

Edited by Walter Guadagnini e Monica Poggi, the exhibition is based on photographs and specimens from the famous Mexican suitcasefound only in 2007 in Mexico City. The case, containing 4,500 negatives taken in Spain, now allows many images to be correctly attributed, revealing a fundamental part of the history of 20th century photography.