Sven Nykvist

Sven Vilhem Nykvist was born on December 3, 1922, in Moheda, Kronoberg, the son of Lutheran missionaries in the Belgian Congo. Joining Sandrew Film Studios as a nineteen-year-old camera assistant, his extraordinary mastery of delicate lighting nuances brought him to the attention of Ingmar Bergman in 1953.

Beginning with The Virgin Spring (1960), Nykvist became Bergman's indispensable visual collaborator across thirty films. Rejecting artificial studio lighting, he revolutionized cinematography through the use of soft, indirect natural light and intimate, psychological close-ups, winning Academy Awards for Cries and Whispers (1973) and Fanny and Alexander (1983). Internationally sought-after, he shot masterworks for Roman Polanski, Louis Malle, Andrei Tarkovsky (The Sacrifice), and Woody Allen, widely regarded as one of the greatest cinematographers in film history.