The Dutch photographer believed mastering colour was the sign of a truly skilled artist – and pioneered an influential style best described as ‘organised chaos’

‘Unvarnished’ … 42nd Street, New York 1960Woman at the annual fair at Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam, 1963Ed van der Elsken (1925–1990) is one of the most prominent and influential postwar photographers to emerge from the Netherlands, with a career spanning more than 40 years. Ed van der Elsken Up Close is at Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, until 13 September 2026Photograph: Rijksmuseum Henni van BeekAmsterdam, circa 1973-1975Van der Elsken’s photo books, and photojournalism in newspapers and magazines, reached a wide audience. At the same time, he was an extraordinary character, known for his bluntness and cheerful audacity. These traits are manifest in his photographs, which are equally unvarnished and attest to his boundless curiosity. He used his camera to express his vision of the world, his fellow humans, and his own life and familyPhotograph: Nederlands FotomuseumStreet performer, Paris circa 1951The young Van der Elsken stayed in Paris in the early 50s, photographing street culture around him. He was described in a publication series from 1954 as ‘young, blond and French, with a somewhat timid, shy way of behaving. A man, still practically a boy, who had difficulty forming relationships, evidently because he had been too quick to trust life and people and, in his idealism, had been wounded too deeply’ Photograph: Rijksmuseum AZSelf-portrait with Ata Kandó in the mirror of their apartment, Sèvres 1952On his return to Amsterdam from Paris, media presented Van der Elsken as a struggling, under-appreciated artist who could barely make ends meet. In a 1955 article in the widely read newspaper Het Parool, this photograph of a sullen Ed and his partner Ata Kandó reflected in a mirror ran alongside the headline: ‘We will wait until this door opens’, referring to the impasse Van der Elsken found himself in as a professional photographer. It was also the working title of an autobiographical photo novel he had in the makingPhotograph: Staeske RebersBoys on the Rokin (near Langebrugsteeg), Amsterdam circa 1950–1960Van der Elsken’s archives can best be described as organised chaos; also an apt characterisation of their creator. Prints, contact sheets, dummies, letters, notes and even his financial records were kept loose in boxes, with stamps and scribbles on the back and front. For whatever reason, Ed retained diaries, notebook, letters and even Post-it notes from the 1950s until his death. Together they read like a biography: as messy, multifarious and humorous as their keeperPhotograph: Rijksmuseum Staeske RebersDrukkersweekblad en Autolijn 1963, No 52 (Christmas issue Fotografie) with View of 42nd Street in New York, 1960Van der Elsken pondered the directness of colour photography. ‘I often say that in colour photography you have to expose yourself, to show you can make good, significant photographs without trickery. I know this because I did the same thing myself 20 years ago, making gloomy, dark-skied, high-contrast prints, and because those techniques are used willy-nilly for cheap effect, I take a devilish pleasure in puncturing those balloons’Photograph: Rijksmuseum Nina KleintjesBeethovenstraat, Amsterdam, 1967In Van der Elsken’s opinion, colour photography was a difficult and skilled trade with little margin for error. Due to the impossibility of manipulating the print in the darkroom, the process was less forgiving and required a lot of experience. It demanded an entirely different way of looking and framing. Because of its unfiltered depiction of reality, the colour would become a beloved means of expression for Van der Elsken. To him, its popularity among amateurs was no reason for its dismissal by the artistic elite Photograph: Nederlands FotomuseumAuto-Polaroid, circa 1972–1979Van der Elsken: ‘I think serious photographers will have to start working in colour too. It’s there. Colour is in the world. But for a really good colour photograph, one that holds its own, you have to give everything you have to offer’Woman cycling, Amsterdam, 1983 Van der Elsken showed himself to be an empathic and engaged photographer. His captions were elaborate, personal and informed about the specific socio-economic circumstances in which he took his pictures. He shared his musings about the places he visited and the people he met in his characteristically chatty, frank (sometimes rather blunt) colloquial languagePhotograph: Rijksmuseum AZEdam, circa 1973 A period of marital strife, divorce, depression and soul-searching drove Van der Elsken to move away from the city and turn inward. In 1971 he retreated to a plot of land in the countryside near Edam and started photographing and filming his surroundings, down to a microscopic level. A period of introspection made way for a new-found drive to engage with the hustle and bustle of (city) life in the 1980sPhotograph: Nederlands FotomuseumQueens Day, Dam, Amsterdam, 1980Most photographers in the Rijksmuseum collection are represented by just one photograph, or a few at most, but in this exceptional case the museum acquired approximately 8,000 prints – the largest group of photographs by a single person ever added to the collection. The decision was justified by the work’s quality, historical significance and social relevancePhotograph: Netherlands Fotomuseum