Like an orchestra conductor or a stage director, Victor Bergen-Henegouwen is systematically looking to create a certain interaction with the subject of his images. Psycho-photographer, he observes the movements that he provokes in his subjects and aims to capture their interior agitation. After many years spent photographing fashion and conventional subjects, he has found his own way to revamp the art of the portrait without abandoning its formal codes. His subjects, perfectly posed-dressed-lit, as in an old master painting, always seem somewhat out of place, prey to some kind of discomfort-interrogation-lassitude. Fire under the ice, temperament brooding under a smooth surface, Victor Bergen-Henegouwen blurrs impressions, agitates appearances and explores with as much discretion as depth the secret meanders of the human psyche.
