French artist Valérie Belin (1964) brings a thoughtful background in art and philosophy to her striking photography. For decades, she has used her camera to explore the thin line between what is real and what is constructed, creating images that are as precise as they are powerful.

Since the 1990s, Belin has focused on the human figure to dive into the heart of identity. In celebrated series like Bodybuilders, Transsexuels, Femmes noires, and Mannequins, she captures subjects in a way that makes us question whether we are looking at a real person or a carefully crafted image. Starting in 2006, her work evolved even further with the introduction of vibrant color and a style she calls “magical realism.” In these more recent pieces, her subjects become something entirely new—a captivating mix of real life, iconic imagery, and illusion.

Belin uses frontal compositions, seriality and extreme formal precision to explore the boundary between living body, object and image. Since the 1990s she has moved from Minimalist-inflected black-and-white photography toward a saturated visual language she describes as “magical realism.”

Valérie Belin (b. 1964) is a French photographer whose work has been shown at MoMA, Centre Pompidou and the V&A. She received the Prix Pictet in 2015 and entered the Académie des beaux-arts in 2026.