From November 21, 2026 to January 31, 2027, Ira Stehmann Fine Art presents a solo exhibition by Dutch photographer Neeltje de Vries (b. 1976, Amsterdam), centered on the female figure — not as an object of the gaze, but as a self-determined subject. Her predominantly black-and-white images show women who withdraw from the viewer rather than present themselves to him: they rarely seek eye contact, need no approval, and are not designed to please. The nudity that runs through her work is understood by de Vries not as an erotic motif but as a metaphor for freedom. Each of her photographs carries traces of a self-portrait — not in outward appearance, but in memory, emotion, and a quiet inner resilience.
Increasingly, the connection between women is moving to the center of her work — as mothers, daughters, friends — a bond that, for the artist, forms a safe, almost sacred ground on which female strength reinforces itself.
De Vries works digitally and almost exclusively with natural light, even where she plays with hard-edged shadows; she prefers direct sunlight to artificial light sources. Her eye, trained over more than fifteen years as a graphic designer, remains inscribed in her images to this day — in clear compositions, precise lines, and a carefully calibrated interplay of closeness and distance. She deliberately does not work in closed series: each photograph is meant to stand on its own, without relying on another image.
Ira Stehmann Fine Art presents a curated selection of works from recent years, revealing the many facets of Neeltje de Vries's photographic practice — from large-format single portraits to intimate compositions in which closeness, connection, and the quiet dialogue between women take center stage.
Exhibition period:
November 21, 2026 – January 31, 2027
Location:
Ira Stehmann Fine Art
Prinzregentenstraße 78
81675 Munich
https://www.irastehmann.com
Exhibition Opening
November 21, 11 am – 5 pm
Kindly RSVP at info@irastehmann.com or +49 171 226 41293.
On all other days, visits are by appointment only.
