A Midsummer Night's Dream. Julia Margaret Cameron

Within the Teatro Real's Shakespearean season, A Midsummer Night's Dream pays tribute to Julia Margaret Cameron, pioneer of photographic portraits in the 19th century. Through a selection of emblematic images and reproductions, the exhibition establishes a dialogue between photography and theatre, between the light and shadows of human emotions and the symbolic light of great tales. The exhibition is presented as part of the PHotoESPAÑA 2025 photography festival.

Julia Margaret Cameron is considered to be one of the great figures in the history of photography. Her work is heavily influenced by literature, religion and art, turning portraits into a form of dramatic expression. A Midsummer Night's Dream invites spectators to enter her universe through the eyes of Shakespearean theatre, evoking characters like Hamlet, Ophelia, Desdemona or Prospero.

The exhibition brings together a careful selection of originals and reproductions of some of her most iconic photographs, in which the composition, blurred lighting and the intimate gesture bestow each image with an atmosphere charged with lyricism.

Image Credits:

• Julia Margaret Cameron. The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere
• A Midsummer Night's Dream. Julia Margaret Cameron  © Javier del Real