René Groebli (* October 9, 1927 in Zurich) began photography at a young age. He took his first pictures with a Rolleiflex camera. In 1943 he began his photographic training in Zurich and later specialized in photography at the Zurich School of Applied Arts. In 1948 he received his diploma as a documentary cameraman and then began his career as a photographer.In 1949 René Groebli published his first book entitled “Magic of the Rails”. It was a groundbreaking photo essay that portrayed the French steam railway in an interaction of smoke, smell, landscape, romance and tendency, thus portraying feelings as symbols of the power of light. In 1954 he published his best-known work, “The Eye of Love”, a photographic love poem of timeless poetry. René Groebli was influenced by well-known Swiss photographers such as Jakob Tuggener and Robert Frank. René Groebli was particularly fascinated by the subjectivity in Robert Frank’s work and led him to his own subjective-poetic visual language. He photographed what is not visible: movement, dynamics and speed. His pictures are characterized by a skilful staging of silhouettes, light and shadow, sharpness and blurriness and live from allusions and associations. The photo series “The Eye of Love” also impressed the photographer Edward Steichen, who was working as a curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York at the time. Steichen visited René Groebli in Zurich in 1953 and immediately acquired one of his nude studies for the MoMA’s renowned photo collection. He also invited Groebli to take part in the exhibition “The Family of Man”. René Groebli and his wife Rita’s honeymoon in 1953 took the couple to Paris and the South of France. There they created a series of photographs that focused on a temporary and emotional situation. The images are fascinating because of their play with silhouettes, light, shadows and movements. His wife Rita is always at the center. René Groebli has had numerous exhibitions and publications throughout his career. His works have been shown in prestigious museums and galleries around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre National de la Photo in Paris. He has received several awards and his photographic work is valued for both his technical mastery and his poetic imagery. René Groebli continues to live and work as a photographer and has published his works in various catalogs, monographs and DVDs. His work covers a wide variety of subjects, including his famous railway images, nudes, landscapes and portraits.