Welcome to The Director’s Cut, an interactive column featuring fashion, beauty and career advice from RGNN Director and Founder, @isabelevabohrer.
Fifty-five years of history. Of the United States. Of pop culture. And of Annie Leibovitz. That is the latest exhibition at the MOP Foundation in A Coruña, Spain. It’s titled “Wonderland,” and it really is a wonderland.
In fact, Leibovitz herself spent three weeks at the MOP Foundation to put together the exhibition herself. Following exhibitions featuring Peter Lindbergh, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and David Bailey, it’s the first time the protagonist of a retrospective, Leibovitz, steps foot on the grounds of the MOP Foundation’s exhibition center. And at 76 years of age, her work ethic is more than admirable, lauded our tour guide, Tommi; Leibovitz worked for eight hours straight, with half an hour for lunch, to make sure that the exhibition would showcase her photographs exactly as she envisioned.
The vision? It starts with the early years, in 1970, when Leibovitz began her career at Rolling Stone magazine, only to leave just a few years later. “Do you want to take on the same job as Robert Frank?” was what The Rolling Stones proposed to her – and she rose to the challenge, documenting concerts of 80,000 people, meeting icons such as Andy Warhol and more. But as much as you spend time with such artists and icons, you are not one of them – and it took Leibovitz ten years to recover from the cocaine that accompanied such events back then.
You never know when a photograph will become iconic, Leibovitz would say. She learned from the best, including Cartier-Bresson and Irving Penn, who, as mentioned previously, has also been subject of an exhibition at the MOP Foundation (read the full article on RGNN here). But what distinguishes her own photographs is that she would document people, not characters; personas, no personajes, in Spanish. And the personas were oh so many, and oh so notorious.
As such, Leibovitz caught the attention of Anna Wintour, who took her to Paris in 1999. In fact, Wintour herself was just at the MOP Foundation for the first time a few weeks ago, precisely to see “Wonderland.” And it is also a Vogue photograph from 2003, the iconic Natalia Vodianova as Alice in Wonderland, that inspired the title for the exhibition.
In 2003, Leibovitz entered the digital era, and has never looked back since. In fact, the recently commissioned portrait of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain for the collection of the Bank of Spain is an example – the two posed at different moments, and the photo was subsequently assembled so that they were standing in the same room. “In the real photograph, King Felipe VI is slightly darker, less well-lit,” explained Tommi. The focus is on Queen Letizia. Why? Because, according to Leibovitz, that is what happens when they step out together – noone is talking about what the King is wearing; Queen Letizia is the center of attention. And how could she not be dressed in the Spanish master of haute couture, Cristóbal Balenciaga (precisely in the cape that was just on view in Milan at the exhibition we also covered at RGNN; you can read the full article here).
That is not the only Spanish reference in “Wonderland”; Penélope Cruz and the torero get their quintessential Marca España moment as well. All the people you meet and interact with throughout your life have molded you into who you are, is Leibovitz’s motto. Susan Sontag, barely recognizable in a photo that forms part of the “A Photographer’s Life” series documenting her Leibovitz’s life with Sontag and the latter’s ultimate battle with cancer, is also present in the exhibition. And then there is an entire wall of moments from Leibovitz’s photography career. Fun fact: she shot the latest portrait of Michelle Obama precisely while putting together the exhibition in 2025 and came back to pin it here, too.
Pin it? Yes, because the photos in “Wonderland” are pinned to the wall with pushpins. Where do you keep your most prized photos? On the fridge at home. And that is the impression you get here, too. The personal touch, pinned herself by Leibovitz, her most coveted photos. But that’s not all. Leibovitz said she wanted to lead an exclusive guided tour of her exhibition – and she did, for 30 Galician students. It’s such values that stand at the core of her work – and at the heart of the MOP Foundation and its exhibition center, which once again, was replete with school groups; the future photography students, and photographers.
Plan your visit
MOP Foundation.
- Muelle de Batería s/n. 15006 A Coruña.
- Pedestrian entrance through Entrejardines.
- Monday through Thursday: 10.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.
- Fridays: 10.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.
- Saturdays and Sundays: 11.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.
- Admission is free.
- A guided tour (highly recommended) can be booked for 5 Euros per person.
- The next exhibition featuring Paolo Roversi will be inaugurated on June 20, 2026.
More information on the official website here.
Thank you to the MOP Foundation for inviting us.
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