Unconditional Beauty: Paolo Roversi And The Intimate Gaze.

How do you capture something that can’t be fully defined? The human form has long been a central subject in art, constantly reinterpreted to reflect shifting ideas of beauty, identity, and power. In image making, the fashion photographer Paolo Roversi brought a quiet revolution to this tradition. His work doesn’t seek to define or categorise; it allows it to exist, feel, and be. With soft lights, muted tones, and a painterly approach, Roversi’s images strip away the noise of fashion and create space for something more intimate and enduring, ethereal and painterly. His portraits offer a new way of seeing women, men and even objects; a new way of looking altogether. Find out more in Unconditional Beauty: Paolo Roversi And The Intimate Gaze.

The human form, especially when focused on women, has been portrayed through countless lenses, idealised, abstracted, objectified, and celebrated. In a medium, like photography, which is often driven by immediacy and surface, these fashion and beauty photographs invite us to pause, look longer, and see differently.

Paolo Roversi, an acclaimed Italian fashion photographer known for his ethereal style and masterful use of large-format Polaroid film, revolutionised the portrayal of the way women and men have been portrayed in photography through his unique approach to fashion and portrait photography. His style applied long exposure, sepia tones, use of light to create a dream-like environment in his photography.

In editorial fashion photography (photography in magazines), the human form takes on a dynamic, often narrative role. Photographers use light, composition and styling to convey stories, sometimes intimate, sometimes bold, but always more intimate about the human experience.

Each picture resonates on a personal level for a different reason, whether that’s how the model or designs are highlighted and showcased, or the colours and shapes being created for the image by Roversi. Captured in stillness or motion, these images frequently explore themes of human identity and vulnerability and work as an exposé to an array of other feelings depending on the viewer’s interpretation. Whether that was a feeling of hope and joy, or of pain and loss. His work could be anything from contemplative to stark, but it was always beautiful and intimate.

© Paolo Roversi. Kirsten Owen, Romeo Gigli P/E 1988, London, 1987

Roversi embraced a more intimate, sensual portrayal of his subjects, focusing less on overt sexuality and more on capturing the emotional depth and vulnerability of his subjects. His photographs often blur the lines between fashion and art, allowing the human form to be celebrated not just as an object of beauty but as a complex, multifaceted presence.

© Paolo Roversi. Jérôme Clark, Uomo Vogue, Paris 2005

Through his work, he highlighted more nuanced femininity and masculinity alike, that embraced imperfection and emotion to be seen in their full, human complexity rather than merely as symbols of beauty or desire.

One of Roversi’s most influential techniques was his ability to utilise a limited colour palette and play with shadows to add an almost otherworldly quality to the human body, both male and female.

© Paolo Roversi. Tami Williams, Christian Dior A/W 1949-1950, Paris, 2016

His signature styling elevated the human figure to something both sacred and real, reminding the viewer that strength can exist in silence, that grace can be defiant, and that art has the power to see beyond the surface.

In his still-life photography, the focus of the image is not the same physically; although the same softness and life are still brought into the image, creating life in a still image because they show the events around the picture, like the trails of movement, unfocused pictures and stature that push real actions taking place.

© Paolo Roversi. Lampe, Paris, 2002

The model, or object, does not look out of place but is suitable in its surroundings. The picture tells a story; an environment revolves around each print, and you are just invited, momentarily, to see into the world that he has created within his Art form.

Through lighting techniques and varying camera types, Roversi managed to capture that dreamlike, painting-esque quality in his portraits. His techniques stemmed from a need for innovation and reinvention. By constantly playing with different cameras and lighting techniques, Roversi was able to bring a new facet to his signature work. He was able to create different portraits for different feelings, no matter who the model was or where the picture was taken.

© Paolo Roversi. Sasha Robertson, Yohji Yamamoto A/H 1985-1986, Paris, 1985

Each image is crafted in a way that mimics the soft strokes of a paintbrush, with colours merging and bleeding into one another from swipes on a canvas. Characterised by a painterly approach, where soft lighting and delicate focus create a dreamlike atmosphere.

This fusion of photography and painting gives his work an ethereal, timeless quality, where emotions are captured through the blending of light, shadow, and colour rather than technical precision.

In Diego Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus, the goddess is shown with her back to the viewer, gazing into a mirror held by Cupid. It is both an invitation and a distancing; she is aware of being seen yet maintains control over how she is caught. Roversi’s portraits often evoke this same duality. His subjects are never passive objects; they carry an internal world, visible in their expression or posture. Like Venus, they appear caught between the viewer and their reflection, poised and contemplative.

Rokeby Venus, Diego Velázquez, 1591

In The Entombment of Christ, Caravaggio suspends a moment of profound grief in a choreography of limbs and expressions, each figure heavy with sorrow yet composed in a sculptural stillness. The scene is intimate, not theatrical, suffering is not performed but inhabited.

This quiet intensity echoes through Paolo Roversi’s portraits, where time seems to pause around the subject. His use of shadow and softness, like Caravaggio’s tenebrism, draws the viewer into a space of emotional closeness. Both artists render their subjects with a reverence that resists spectacle; instead, they invite meditation. Roversi’s figures, like Caravaggio’s Christ and mourners, are imbued with a spiritual gravity, their gestures expressive yet inward, as though lit from within by the weight of their presence.

The Entombment of Christ, Caravaggio, 1604

In Andrea del Castagno’s David with the Head of Goliath, the young hero twists mid-stride, caught between action and stillness, his body tense with triumph, his face unreadable. The metallic gleam of his armour contrasts with the fleshy weight of Goliath’s severed head, creating a tension between vitality and mortality.

This duality, poise alongside violence, beauty alongside vulnerability, is a thread that runs through some of Paolo Roversi’s portraits. His subjects, often illuminated against shadowed backgrounds, carry this same enigmatic presence: youthful yet timeless, serene yet touched by something darker. Like Castagno’s David, they exist in a suspended moment, where the surface elegance gives way to a deeper emotional undercurrent, inviting the viewer into a quiet confrontation.

David with the Head of Goliath, Andrea del Castagno, 1457

In Paolo Roversi’s world, the human form is not a subject to be captured, but a presence to be felt. His photographs remind us that beauty is not always bold, and strength is not always loud.

In reimagining the gaze, Roversi reinterprets the role of photography itself. His legacy lies not only in the images he created but also in the shift he inspired toward intimacy. His portraits are more than fashion; they are moments of stillness that echo long after the image fades, reminding us that true beauty is not posed but felt.

Releasing on May 15, Paolo Roversi by Sylvie Lécallier is a deeply considered monograph that explores the quiet power of Roversi’s photography. Bringing together iconic portraits and rarely seen works, the book reflects his singular vision, where softness, emotion, and light converge to create timeless, intimate images.

More than a retrospective, it offers a rare glimpse into the poetic world he builds through his lens, capturing beauty not as surface, but as feeling.

Order ‘Paolo Roversi’, a book by Sylvie Lecallier and Paolo Roversi at ThamesandHudson.com

If you enjoy Paolo Roversi, Thames and Hudson sells a selection of other fashion-focused books in the Catwalk series, highlighting fashion houses and their history from Yves Saint Laurent and Dior to Chanel and Vivienne Westwood.

If you enjoyed reading Unconditional Beauty: Paolo Roversi And The Intimate Gaze, why not try Lost Legacies, Found Voices: The Art World’s Reckoning

.Cent Magazine London, Be Inspired; Get Involved.

Follow us: