"Two pictures, that's it"

Unplanned icon: Famous Che portrait turns 65

The photo did not immediately become world famous. Alberto Korda's newspaper did not use it at first, as Guevara was not the main character in the planned article. The photo was published in a small format in 1961 to announce a TV address by Guevara as Cuba's Minister of Industry. It began its triumphal march after Che's death ...

(Bild: AFP)

"Two pictures, that's it. One across, one up" - with these words, Cuban photographer Alberto Korda comments on what is probably his most famous photograph of Argentinian rebel Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Today, the photo is one of the most reproduced in the world - whether on a bikini, as a tattoo or on canvas. But it was not until 1967 that the image began its triumphal march ...

Che Guevara's likeness adorns millions of posters, T-shirts and souvenirs - the portrait has long since become part of global iconography. Yet the famous picture "Guerrillero Heroico" (Heroic Guerrillero) was created 65 years ago as a pure stroke of luck.

Photo taken at a funeral service
Cuban photographer Alberto Korda took the picture at a funeral service in Havana on March 5, 1960. The day before, dozens of people had lost their lives when the French freighter "La Coubre" exploded while unloading ammunition and grenades in the port of the Cuban capital. Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro accuses the USA of sabotage.

Created the iconic Che Guevara photo: Cuban photographer Alberto Diaz Gutierrez. He died of a heart attack in Paris in 2001 at the age of 72.

(Bild: ADALBERTO ROQUE ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP)

"Intense" view of the crowd
Castro and guests such as French intellectuals Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir attend the mourning ceremony. Ernesto "Che" Guevara initially stays in the background on stage. Then he suddenly steps forward and looks briefly over the mourning crowd. At this moment, the photographer presses the shutter of his camera.

The shot is one of the most reproduced worldwide, whether on a bikini, as a tattoo or on canvas.

(Bild: AFP)

"The look almost scared me"
 "It was a 'pac, pac': two shots and that was it," is how Korda (1928-2001) described the sound of his Leica in an interview. Once across, once up. "I was surprised. His intense gaze almost frightened me." Then Guevara disappears from view again. The former advertising and fashion photographer cuts off a palm branch and a head on the left and right side of the photo.

Picture hung on the wall for years
The picture then hung on the wall of Korda's photo studio for years. The Italian publisher and communist activist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli visited him there in 1967. He needed a photo of "Che", and Korda gave him two prints - free of charge.

About the photograph

• The photo shows the face of the left-wing resistance fighter taken slightly from below. He is looking into the distance. He is wearing a black beret with a five-pointed star on his head. His wavy hair reaches almost to his shoulders.
• The iconic portrait contributed significantly to the myth of Che Guevara as an idealistic guerrilla. His critics, on the other hand, see him as a merciless murderer. The Argentinean fought alongside the Castro brothers in the Cuban revolution and occupied various government offices after the rebels' victory.

In August 1967, it appeared in the magazine "Paris Match" without mentioning the photographer's name. "Che Guevara: Où est-il donc?" (Che Guevara: So where is he?) is the title of the magazine. The guerrillero had gone into hiding to start a revolution in Bolivia.

(Bild: AFP)

Triumphal march begins after Che's death
Two months later, Guevara is shot dead by Bolivian soldiers at the age of 39. This marks the beginning of the photo's triumphal march. Feltrinelli has hundreds of thousands of posters printed with the image. The portrait is omnipresent during the student protests of 1968. The guerrillero became a cult figure of the left and an object of capitalism.

Maradona wore Che as a tattoo
To this day, the image, which is considered the most famous photographic image of a person, is used in a wide variety of contexts. It was projected onto the stage during pop icon Madonna's most recent world tour. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen presented it on a bikini. Boxing idol Mike Tyson and former soccer star Diego Armando Maradona had Guevara's portrait tattooed. The Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick created another famous graphic inspired by the photo in 1968. An assistant to Andy Warhol created a pop art version of the image.