The farewell to Oliviero Toscani, a photographer who made provocation his stylistic trademark, raises a question about the multifaceted power of photography and its relationship—both conflictual and symbiotic—with painting.
Oliviero Toscani, with his irreverent and often desecrating aesthetic, forcefully demonstrated how photography could transcend its documentary function to become a powerful means of communication, capable of reawakening consciences, sparking debates, and even shaping collective thought.

However, beyond its undeniable social and political value, this new artistic medium stands as a form of expression in perpetual evolution, constantly seeking new ways to capture and interpret the elusive essence of reality. Since its inception, photography has been compared to painting, sharing with it the ambitious goal of representing the visible world, of translating three-dimensional reality into a two-dimensional language.
Nevertheless, unlike painting, which relies on the skilled hand of the artist and their subjective interpretation, photography seemingly depends on a ‘mechanical eye’, a cold and detached eye capable of capturing reality in an objective and impersonal way. This supposed objectivity, this fidelity to reality, has led some to confine photography to the role of a mere reproduction technique, lacking the magical aura that surrounds a work of art. But can photography really be confined to this purely technical dimension, denying it the dignity of artistic expression?
The symbiotic relationship between photography and painting is precisely about the choice of subjects. Over the centuries, both expressive mediums have confronted the great themes of representation.
A closer and deeper analysis reveals that photography, while based on a technical and scientific process, cannot and should not be considered free from aesthetic and interpretative choices. The framing, the skillful use of light, the harmony of the composition, the choice of subject, the crucial moment captured by the lens—these are all pivotal elements that contribute to defining the style, message, and soul of a photograph. In this sense, the photographer, much like the painter, makes a selection of reality, a personal interpretation of the world, guided by their sensitivity, experience, and unique vision.
There are countless examples of artists who have taken full advantage of the expressive potential of photography, elevating it to a true form of art. The intense, psychological portraits of Nadar, Man Ray and Moholy-Nagy’s bold and innovative experiments, the breathtaking landscapes of Ansel Adams, Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s raw and moving images, and David LaChapelle, who with his Pieta revolutionizes the norms with a sacrilegious Courtney Love, are just a few of the masters who have explored its endless expressive possibilities.

But let us not forget to mention the influence of the ‘photographic’ eye of many painters. The oblique and voyeuristic frames of Pierre Bonnard, the vibrant light of the Impressionists, the 18th-century portraits, echo in the works of great contemporary photographers. Annie Leibovitz, in her portrait of Will Smith on horseback, seems to recall Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon; and in Oliviero Toscani’s children, we see the cherubs of the Renaissance.

The symbiotic relationship between photography and painting is precisely about the choice of subjects. Over the centuries, both expressive mediums have confronted the great themes of representation: the portrait, a mirror of the human soul; the landscape, sublime and majestic; still life, silent and contemplative; the nude, a celebration of the beauty of the body. However, photography, with its extraordinary ability to capture the fleeting moment and freeze time, has managed to add new subjects to the artistic repertoire, opening new expressive frontiers. Everyday life captured in its spontaneity, the chaotic bustle of the metropolis, action caught in the act, the emotion of a sporting event: these are just a few examples of genres that have found in photography their ideal means of expression.
Photography is not merely a passive documentation of reality; it can also transform, manipulate, and interpret it according to the artist’s vision. Photomontage, solarization, and the endless techniques of digital post-production are just some of the tools that allow the photographer to create images that go beyond simple reproduction of the visible, opening up new expressive dimensions, to dreamlike and surreal worlds. In this sense, photography comes close to painting, sharing with it the search for a visual language that goes beyond mere mimesis, a language capable of delving into the unconscious and the collective imagination.

Although it originated as a mechanical reproduction technique, photography has evolved over time, emancipating itself and establishing itself as an autonomous and complex art form. Like painting, it confronts the great themes of human existence, but it does so through its own unique and unmistakable language.
Opening image: A/I 1991, “ Angelo e diavolo” Credits: Oliviero Toscani