‘Trespassing on privacy’: Bertien van Manen’s intimate images – in pictures

Over a five decade career, the Dutch photographer has travelled from the former Soviet Union to the Appalachian mountains in search of tender, everyday snapshots

Main image: A bird in the hand ... from Let’s Sit Down Before We Go. Photograph: Bertien van Manen

  • From the series Soviet Union (1991-2009)

    Since the 1970s, Dutch photographer Bertien van Manen has created intimate and poignant photographs of commonplace scenes of everyday life across Europe, the US, China and the former Soviet Union. Archive by Bertien van Manen is available through Mack
    From the series ‘Soviet Union’ (1991-2009)

  • This series on the former Soviet Union is from the rare edition book Let’s Sit Down Before We Go
    From the series ‘Soviet Union’ (1991-2009)

  • The photos in this book were taken in Russia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Tatarstan and Georgia
    From the series ‘Soviet Union’ (1991-2009)

  • Let’s Sit Down Before We Go refers to an old habit in Russia. Before leaving for a long journey, people will sit down for a moment and think about where they will be going and why
    From the series ‘Soviet Union’ (1991-2009)

  • You can read more about this image in the Big Picture series here
    From the series ‘Soviet Union’ (1991-2009)

  • From the series Appalachian Mountains (1985-2013)

    Spanning almost three decades, Van Manen’s book Moonshine is a portrait of the American Appalachian folk
    From the series ‘Appalachian Mountains’ (1985-2013)

  • Van Manen’s images are defined by a fierce intimacy with her subjects, as the viewer teeters on the edge of the frame, perpetually trespassing on private moments
    From the series ‘Appalachian Mountains’ (1985-2013)

  • Mavis and Junior are miners. Their trailer is parked on top of the mountain overlooking Cumberland, Kentucky. The small white dog starts yapping like mad when they dance together to bluegrass music in the small space lit by a single bulb
    From the series ‘Appalachian Mountains’ (1985-2013)

  • From the series China (1997-2001)

    Inspired by Robert Frank’s book The Americans (1958), Van Manen switched from fashion photography to a more documentary approach. The result was the 2001 book East Wind, West Wind
    From the series ‘China’ (1997-2001)

  • Van Manen has established herself as a unique voice in documentary photography, her visual language imbued with empathy and respect for the everyday lives of her subjects
    From the series ‘China’ (1997-2001)

  • Van Manen uses an inexpensive snapshot camera to take photos of people she meets, as she feels that these cameras allow her subjects to consider her ‘as a tourist or friend, who likes to take pictures’
    From the series ‘China’ (1997-2001)

  • Archive is edited and designed by renowned Dutch designer Hans Gremmen. It presents an extensive overview of Van Manen’s work alongside diary entries and previously unpublished selections from her archive, forming an authoritative reference work and a beguiling introduction to the world of an essential artist
    From the series ‘China’ (1997-2001)

  • From the series Ireland (2013–2015)

    In Beyond Maps and Atlases, Van Manen turns to Ireland. She says: ‘At first, working in Ireland, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. My husband had died. I dispensed with the people and reflected on the atmosphere’
    From the series ‘Ireland’ (2013–2015)

  • ‘I was guided by a feeling and a search, a longing for some kind of meaning in a place of myths and legends’
    From the series ‘Ireland’ (2013–2015)

  • ‘There was mystery and endlessness at the edge of a land beyond which is nothing but a vast expanse’
    From the series ‘Ireland’ (2013–2015)
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