Erich Lessing has been documenting the culture and fine arts of Europe and the Near East for more than fifty years. He is arguably today's leading independent photographer of the arts in the Western World. He created the Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archive which is an extensive image library featuring over 40,000 high resolution images from over 500 museums and private collections throughout the world, including a thorough coverage of such institutions as: The Louvre and the MusA e d'Orsay in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Uffizi in Florence, the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Prado in Madrid, and many more. Having worked as a photographer all over the world for more than six decades, he has published more than 40 books with his art photography. He lives in Vienna and travels regularly to Paris and other art capitals of the world.