On June, 6th of 1944, 5 million men faced each other in five beautiful and huge sandy beaches. One year later, a war finished in Europe. In every landing craft fitted 80 soldiers, 450kg in guns, 1500kg in ammunition; it is difficult to think of the weight of all the hands, mainly the hands.

There must not be such beautiful beaches where half a million men had died.

Sunday afternoon meteorologists observe some improvement in the weather, with permissible conditions for Tuesday 6th.
At night, winds moved to the northeast at 5 knots. At quarter past four in the morning on Monday 5th, six battleships, 23 cruisers, 122 destroyers, and 360 torpedo boats appeared along the coast of Normandy, setting into motion the largest amphibian operation in History.

The objective was to cover the beachfronts, known by the code words Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.

Few of the 17,000 American and 4,255 British troops in the airborne division would touch ground in their expected locations; many made their descent, and their landing became so chaotic that the German command posts received news of paratroopers and gliders falling everywhere.
The silence of that night had given way to an incredible thunder of confusion.
Once on sand, the men stumbled into a hell of landmines and crossfire that made for a confusion of casualties, vehicles, arms, explosives, debris, and shrapnel of all kinds. In the first four hours, 3,000 men were lost at Omaha.

After the first counterattacks failed, von Rundstedt and Rommel knew that they had lost the battle on the coast. This day was dubbed “D-Day,” the “longest day.
  • 1-ENS-NH10621-0
    Rest of the artificial bridges constructed for the Disembark. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08833-3
    Rest of the artificial bridges constructed for the Disembark. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26026-2
    Rest of the artificial bridges constructed for the Disembark. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26024-1
    Rest of the artificial bridges constructed for the Disembark. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26012-1
    Rest of the artificial bridges constructed for the Disembark. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25536A-0
    Rest of the artificial bridges constructed for the Disembark. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08115A-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08117-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2553-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2555-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25622A-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26326-0
    St.Côme beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26324-0
    St.Côme beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26329A-0
    St.Côme beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26424-1
    St.Côme beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25226-0
    Le Chaos beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2518A-2
    Le Chaos. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25122A-4
    Le Chaos. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2615-4
    "Czech hedgehogs" (were used to impede the movement of tanks and vehicles). Varreville beach. Code name "Utach Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25714-0
    Colleville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2578A-0
    Colleville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2575-0
    Colleville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25734A-0
    Colleville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25733-0
    Colleville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10912-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2645-4
    Arromanches. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26017-1
    Arromanches. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26019-1
    Arromanches harbour. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26031-0
    Arromanches harbour. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26033-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2568A-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25810-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25822A-1
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25720A-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2563-3
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25629A-1
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08722-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH1087-3
    St. Laurent beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10933-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10929A-0
    St. Laurent beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10935-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10928-1
    St. Laurent beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10926-1
    St. Laurent beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10924A-1
    St. Laurent beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10922A-1
    St. Laurent beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25036-0
    Aubin Sur Mer beach. Code name "Juno Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25015A-0
    Aubin Sur Mer beach. Code name "Juno Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG26210-0
    Asnelles beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25526-2
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH0761-3
    Colleville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH0725-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH0737-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08710-2
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH07215A-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH09510A-0
    St.Côme beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH07514-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH07431-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG25313a-0
    Colleville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 3-ENS-NH1163A-2
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH0721A-0
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NG2625-0
    Varreville beach. Code name "Utach Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH0785-2
    Ravenoville beach. Code name "Utach Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH0841A-3
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH09113A-0
    Port-en-Bessin beach (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH09127A-0
    Port-en-Bessin beach (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08029A-1
    Ravenoville beach. Code name "Utach Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH07910-0
    Ravenoville beach. Code name "Utach Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH07326-1
    Arromanches harbour. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH09019-1
    Port-en-Bessin beach (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH07715A-0
    Arromanches. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08119-0
    Arromanches. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08435-1
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH08310-3
    Arromanches beach. Code name "Gold Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10917A-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
  • 1-ENS-NH10919-0
    Vierville Sur Mer beach. Code name "Omaha Beach" (Normandy, France).
La Fragua Room, Tabacalera
Madrid. Spain
June 2019
The respect we feel for ruins has to do both with what is seen and what is not. They are like scars on the body. The terse, torn flesh we see contains the history of a wound that was itself a testimony to an event in our lives. The ruin is a trace and a testimony. There something was built, there it fell, there man acted before nature and time acted once more in their turn. We cannot view a landscape with ruins as we would view a virgin landscape, because in the latter case we are searching for unexplored purity while in the former we find traces of the human exploration of life, with its waves of creation and destruction. This received early acknowledgement from literature and painting, and in the last two centuries from photography and film.
Eduardo Nave’s magnificent frieze encapsulates the turbulent dignity of the trace that has been left behind. His passage through the light of Normandy is a memorable one. For someone like me, born on the shore of the Mediterranean with its sensorially contrasted colours, the light of the North always has a magical quality, the promise of a spiritual abstraction. Hence the value of the painting of Caspar David Friedrich, revolutionary at the time, with which Nave’s work is exquisitely related. The light of the North is especially difficult for someone on the hunt for images because it demands mettle, subtlety and the unfettered activity of the ‘inner eye’, the one which looks at the world from within and inwardly.
I have known few photographers who display such mastery in this dialogue with the light of the North as Eduardo Nave. I am certain that his inner eye is perfectly educated for the accomplishment of this complex mission. Nave’s Normandy, with its immobile vertigo, is a spiritual landscape. Sky, sea, cliffs and brief human silhouettes make up a purified meditation that each viewer can mirror in his or her own way.
Nevertheless, this meditation, so essential in the beauty of its forms, necessarily includes the trace of human events, and in this case the tragic occurrence of war. Nave’s Normandy is the light of the North, but it is also the blood and violence trapped in the wreckage that recalls the battle. Not the least of Nave’s merits is his ability to integrate the mysterious innocence of the space so harmoniously with the tragedy of a setting where the human drama has been played out.
In the photography of Eduardo Nave, light and memory converge to nourish an extraordinary poetics.


Rafael Argullol