Sergio Larrain (1931–2012) published very few books during his lifetime, but perhaps the most fêted among them was Valparaíso. He photographed this Chilean seaport throughout his career, but it was in the early 1960s, when he returned to his homeland after travelling the world as a Magnum photographer, that it became a focus for his attention. He saw it as ‘a sordid yet romantic city’, standing between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, falling into a slow decline as its trading importance faded away, yet still retaining hints of beauty and magic.
