Paul Bellaart is an Amsterdam based photographer who studied at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. His work stretches across subject matters such as fashion, portraiture and life style. Mr. Bellaart has cited real people, inspiring places and coincidental circumstances as his inspirations in image making. His work has been featured in publications such as Elle, MarIe Claire, Vogue and Vanity Fair. Mr. Bellaart’s clients include Burberry, Hermes, Levi’s and Universal Music.
Biography
Paul Bellaart is an Amsterdam based photographer who studied at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. His work stretches across subject matters such as fashion, portraiture and life style. Mr. Bellaart has cited real people, inspiring places and coincidental circumstances as his inspirations in image making. His work has been featured in publications such as Elle, MarIe Claire, Vogue and Vanity Fair. Mr. Bellaart’s clients include Burberry, Hermes, Levi’s and Universal Music.
Our Notes:
The Poetics of the Familiar in Paul Bellaart’s Dutch Eden
Paul Bellaart’s photographs often feel like invitations into an Edenic, innocent world, where softness, quiet, and contemplation take precedence. The scenes he constructs suggest a vision of life in which tenderness and presence are central values. Within this framework, spontaneity becomes a key structuring principle: moments appear caught rather than staged, preserving the subtle tremors of lived experience.
Northern European light plays a crucial role in amplifying this atmosphere of peace and delicacy. Its characteristic softness, long transitions, and muted brightness wrap subjects in a gentle, diffused glow that avoids harsh contrasts and sharp punctuation. It reinforces the edenistic quality and emotional authenticity of Bellaart’s images.
This light also deepens the sense of genuine innocence his work conveys. Under a softer northern sky, colors desaturate slightly, edges blur just enough, and time appears to stretch—a visual condition that supports the feeling of suspension and connection to the natural world. The result is an atmosphere where the viewer is encouraged to linger, to breathe with the image. The work functions as visual refuge, offering genuinely restorative emotions.
Paul Bellaart’s eye brings a distinctive style and approach to female sensuality, intimacy, and elegance. He seems to refer to an Edenic, “back to the garden” state and creates images that are beyond time with a unique sense of innocence, leisure, and liberation.
In his personal and commissioned work, he uniquely captures a bare sensuality and sense of genuine and natural beauty. He is one of the favorite photographers of model Doutzen Kroes, who he shot as a sexy model and in more intimate family portraits with the same sense of ease.
Paul Bellaart participated in two books, MOAM and #SENDNUDES.
Books
Paul Bellaart has published in 2020 his first autonomous book as a visual story shot over five years during the each year’s month of May. The protagonists could easily be characters in a Sofia Coppola movie: individuals who are not afraid to show their vulnerability and who, in Bellaart’s black-and-white shots, roam verdant summer landscapes. The book starts and end with details of nature printed on rough recycled paper to set the atmosphere of the narrative. The story of five models situated in ‘De Ronde Hoep’, near Amsterdam, consists of different scenes, built up with the same rhythm. It is an ode to a poetic way of life, in harmony with nature, almost edenic, Paul Bellaart’s signature style.
Press
Paul Bellaart primarily operates within the Netherlands, where he has amassed a remarkable track record of achievements. His prowess and creativity have garnered immense recognition, making him a highly celebrated figure in his home country. Collaborating closely with Vogue Netherlands, Bellaart's captivating work has been featured in numerous issues since 2012. Bellaart now displays his extraordinary portfolio as a common cover artist for Vogue NL.
Best of February 2019 – Haute Photographie Rotterdam 2019
Ukraine’s first lady shines on Vogue cover
On top of photography, Paul Bellaart has an exceptional talent for videography and has created numerous artistic videos. In 2019 the photographer worked closely with Duncan Laurence, the representative for the Netherlands and winner of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. Paul Bellaart was the creator of the music video for Duncan Laurence’s song, Arcade, which was showcased during the contest.