Portret van de Comtesse d'Estreuve de Saint-Jean

1858

The world’s first aerial photographs

He became the first person to take aerial photographs, using the wet-plate collodion process: the plates had to be prepared and developed in the basket while aloft, and escaping gas ruined the images until Nadar invented a gas-proof cotton cover for his baskets. He also pioneered the use of artificial light in photography, working underground in the catacombs of Paris.

1860

A studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines

In 1860 Nadar moved to 35 Boulevard des Capucines, where he photographed politicians (Guizot, Proudhon), stage actors (Sarah Bernhardt, Paulus), writers (Hugo, Baudelaire, Sand, Nerval, Gautier, Dumas), painters (Corot, Delacroix, Millet) and musicians (Liszt, Rossini, Offenbach, Verdi, Berlioz). In the studio he eschewed traditional sumptuous decors and unnecessary accessories and preferred natural daylight.

1863

Commissions the enormous balloon “Le Géant”

He commissioned the prominent balloonist Eugène Godard to build an enormous balloon, 60 metres high with a capacity of 6,000 cubic metres, named “Le Géant” (The Giant); it inspired Jules Verne’s “Five Weeks in a Balloon”.

1863

The crash of “Le Géant” near Hanover

During a flight in October 1863 a strong wind carried the balloon off towards Germany, and near Hanover “Le Géant” crashed, injuring Nadar and his wife Ernestine.

1870–1871

The airmail of besieged Paris

During the Siege of Paris in 1870–71 Nadar was instrumental in organising balloon flights carrying mail to reconnect the besieged Parisians with the rest of the world, thus establishing the world’s first airmail service.

1874

The first Impressionist exhibition in his studio

In April 1874 he lent his photo studio to a group of painters to present the first exhibition of the Impressionists.