Vertigo of the Eiffel Tower by Marc Riboud

The painter of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1953.

© Marc Riboud.

A young man from Lyon, Marc Riboud immortalized a painter on the Eiffel Tower in 1953. The image, which has become iconic, will be his first publication in the magazine, “Life”, and his entry ticket to the Magnum agency.

No helmet, no harness, just balance. We can well imagine this tightrope walker glancing at the man, watching him and suppressing a smile. Unperturbed, with a funny hat on the head, he seems at ease above the void. A metal tower needs to be repainted. Since its construction, climbing specialists, insensitive to vertigo, have done so on average every seven years.

On the other side of the picture, the photographer isn't so imperturbable by the void. He shudders every time the acrobat bends down to dip his brush into the bucket of paint. When he tries to check his frame with a viewfinder, he nearly falls backwards. However, there is no question of giving up. As a provincial who enjoys discovering Paris little by little, Marc Riboud made the pilgrimage to the Eiffel Tower. As a disciple who listens to the advice of his elders while following his instinct, he went to meet the workers of the Iron Lady. In its case, a black and white film. No extra roll of film in his pockets. Only 36 takes.

The young photographer is not a seasoned professional. Since adolescence, he has developped a passion for photography. But the war, the Resistance in the Vercors, and then engineering studies have kept him away from his vocation. The fifth child in a family of bankers and industrialists, he was 14 when his father gave him his first device, advising the often mute and shy son to develop the sharpness of his gaze.