Solargraphs at Château Miraval: Brad Pitt’s Estate Illuminated by the Art of Robert Charles Mann
Introducing Solargraphs at Château Miraval – a breathtaking new art photography book capturing the movement of the sun over Brad Pitt’s Provence estate through the handcrafted pinhole camera artistry of Robert Charles Mann.
Robert Mann & Brad Pitt
In the sun-drenched heart of Provence, where time stretches out like vineyards across rolling hills, a remarkable creative collaboration has unfolded between Hollywood icon Brad Pitt and the enigmatic American photographer Robert Charles Mann. The result is Solargraphs at Château Miraval—a mesmerising new book that captures not just the landscape of Pitt’s storied estate, but the invisible sweep of the cosmos itself, all through the deceptively humble lens of a pinhole camera.
This is no ordinary photography collection. At first glance, Mann’s images appear abstract—etched with fine, arched lines in rich hues of cobalt, gold, and mauve, suspended over a dreamlike landscape. But look closer, and you begin to see: silhouettes of ancient trees, the outline of a Provençal rooftop, the barely-there track of a winding country road. These are the solargraphs—long-exposure photographs made using handmade pinhole cameras, often crafted from whisky cans, which Mann leaves in place for months at a time. As the sun crosses the sky, day after day, its arc is traced directly onto photosensitive paper inside the camera, leaving behind a luminous record of time and light.
“Each time, I am stunned to see in one image a place so rich in history” Pitt writes in his deeply personal foreword. “and the luminous trace of our journey around the sun.”
The collaboration between the two began nearly two decades ago, when Pitt—then quietly amassing his own archive of film negatives—was searching for a skilled and discreet printer. It was Mark McKenna of the Herb Ritts Foundation who introduced him to Mann, a tall, soft-spoken artist from the Midwest with an eye for precision and a reverence for analogue processes. What began as a technical partnership in the darkroom quickly evolved into a deep creative friendship.
As Mann spoke to Pitt about his early experiments in pinhole photography—particularly his Orbits and Flowers series—Pitt was captivated by the poetic textures and atmospheric depth. But it was the solargraphs that truly enchanted him. When Mann suggested the idea of installing cameras at Miraval to track the sun’s journey over the estate’s ancient walls, olive groves, and monastic ruins, the answer was immediate: yes.
Miraval, after all, is no stranger to artistic alchemy. Built on the foundations of an 11th-century Benedictine monastery, the estate has long been a sanctuary for creativity. Jazz legend Jacques Loussier established the now-iconic Miraval Studios in the 1970s, where the likes of Pink Floyd, The Cure and Sting recorded. Since acquiring the estate in 2011, Pitt has lovingly restored the studios, launched architectural projects, and welcomed artists of all disciplines to take up residencies. Mann’s cameras now form part of this evolving legacy.
Every solstice, Robert Mann returns to Miraval. He retrieves his cameras—some of which have weathered six months of sun, wind, and Provençal rain—and installs new ones, choosing angles that reflect the estate’s unique interplay of light, shadow, and time. The resulting solargraphs, displayed in this stunning new book, evoke both the majesty of the cosmos and the quiet endurance of place.
Mikaël Faujour, who pens a lyrical essay in the book, writes: “These images have the power to provoke… familiar elements are steeped in something strange and strangely beautiful.” The images ask us to pause, to wonder, and to see the sun’s passage not as a fleeting flash of brilliance, but as a slow, celestial choreography.
In an age where photography is often instant and disposable, Solargraphs at Château Miraval is a radiant counterpoint—an ode to slowness, intention, and the art of seeing beyond the visible. It is a tribute to a place, to a process, and most movingly, to a friendship built on light.
