14 Colorized Vintage Photos By Sebastien De Oliveira That Might Transform Your View Of History

Photography is a wonderful way to capture significant moments, as well as everyday situations with less importance. In the end, photographs make our memories more vivid, and even if we struggle to recall the details of a certain event, pictures are there to help us travel back in time to that particular occasion. It’s no secret that this ability to capture the world has been used for centuries, allowing us to witness and preserve the past.

Sébastien de Oliveira has been passionate about old photographs for quite some time. You might remember our previous posts where we featured his earlier works. The French artist specializes in modernizing vintage shots by bringing them to life with vibrant colors. If you’re curious to see his latest creations, scroll down to explore his most recent works.

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14 PHOTOS

#1 US Soldier Takes A Break Near Château-Thierry, France, August 1944 Life Magazine Archives

Photographed by Ralph Morse

Pictolic reached out to Sébastien and asked him some new questions about his work. This time, we were curious to know if there are specific eras or themes he avoids colorizing because he feels they work better in black and white. Here’s what he had to say: “I used to avoid dramatic events, or difficult images to watch because I used to think that colorizing should enhance the beauty of life, not the dark side. I changed a little bit of my point of view recently as I worked on images of the German occupation of France during World War II. As the colorizing process brings life to the images, it is still a powerful time machine, and going back to these dramatic events can be a precious lesson for the present day.

I try to avoid colorizing recognizable work from famous photographers. When the images are well known, the colorized version enters in conflict with the memory we can have of the image and it doesn’t work as well as for a more anonymous photograph.”

#2 Scrabble Inventor Alfred Butts (Left) And Promoter James Brunot Posed With Oversized Game, November 1953

Photographed by Arthur Rothstein

#3 Jardin Des Tuileries, Paris, May 1923

When we asked Sébastien de Oliveira about unspoken rules or myths in the colorization world that he’s intentionally broken to achieve a unique result, he responded: “There is no such thing as rules or myth in our colorization world. Everyone, as an artist, works in their own way, as they want. I work with my background, as a former painter and photographer, and so my colorizations reflect my references that are maybe more pictorial and I didn’t search for a realistic result.”

#4 Preparing For The Landing, 1944

#5 1940 Life Magazine “Miami & Miami Beach Winter Boom”

The artist also shared with us what colorized image completely surprised him once it came to life: “One of my first true colorizations was a view of the Opéra Garnier in Paris, from 1889. I was not convinced, at that time, that a colorized photo could compete with a color photo, and then, something happened, a little bit by chance and by manipulation. I saw an old autochrome more than a colorized version of the image and I knew that I had something valuable in front of my eyes. That moment pushed me to continue to experiment and to find my way of colorizing.”

#6 Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1925

#7 Opel Kapitan, 1951

Lastly, Sébastien shared his thoughts on whether colorizing vintage photographs can sometimes romanticize the past or if it serves as a bridge for modern audiences to connect with history. He told us: “I think it makes the two things contemporary. By giving a colorful version, it romanticizes the past, not because it gives a false version but because it makes the scene more beautiful, and vibrant, and at the same time it connects you more easily to the reality of the past.

The effect is powerful and the less people are confronted with black-and-white photos, and that is the case for the new generation concerning mine (I’m from 1970), the more they will be touched by this effect.”

#8 Street Scene During The Liberation Of Chartres, France, August 19, 1944

American soldiers of the XXth Corps of the Third Army and some FFI with German prisoners in front of a Gothic cathedral.

#9 15-Cent Photo Booth In The Lobby At The United Nations Service Center At Washington, D.C., December 1943

Photographed by Esther Bubley

#10 Joan Crawford In 'Letty Lynton,' 1932

Directed by Clarence Brown

#11 Catherine Deneuve, 1964

Photographed by Giancarlo Botti

#12 Girl Posing, 1955

#13 Unemployed Men, San Francisco, 1937

Photographed by Dorothea Lange

#14 Buster Keaton And His Dog, 1929