Probably Madrid, Spain

1934

Meets Gerta Pohorylle (Gerda Taro)

In 1934 in Paris Friedmann, who then called himself André, met Gerta Pohorylle, a German Jewish refugee, and taught her photography; she later took the name Gerda Taro.

1935

The birth of the name “Robert Capa”

From 1935 Friedmann worked under the pseudonym Robert Capa. It was a mystification devised together with Gerda Taro: she spread rumours among journalists about a famous and wealthy American photographer ready to sell his pictures, while Friedmann himself played the fictitious character.

1936–1939

The Spanish Civil War

From 1936 to 1939 Capa worked in Spain, photographing the Civil War together with Gerda Taro and David Seymour; he travelled with and photographed the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification (POUM).

1936–1939

Photographs the war in Spain with Hemingway

Capa accompanied the journalist and author Ernest Hemingway in Spain to photograph the war, which Hemingway later described in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Life magazine published an article about Hemingway and his time in Spain with numerous photographs by Capa.

19 juni 1937 – 12 september 1937

Took part in: foto '37

1937

The death of Gerda Taro near Brunete

In July 1937 Gerda Taro was killed near Brunete: returning from a photographic assignment covering the battle, the car she was travelling in (apparently standing on its footboard) collided with an out-of-control tank. Capa, who was reportedly engaged to her, was deeply shocked and never married.