Gilles Larrain was born in Dalat, Indochina, in 1938 to a Chilean father, who was a diplomat and painter, and a French-Vietnamese mother, who was a pianist and painter. His father was Hernan Larrain, at that time consul of Chile in Indochina, and Charlotte Mayer-Blanchy, granddaughter of Saïgon’s first mayor Paul Blanchy. He was also the nephew of cardinal of Talca (Chile) Rafaël Larrain. He was educated at New York University and at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied architecture and worked in city planning.
gilles grandparents Biography

Since 1969, Larrain has devoted his energies to photography and has concentrated specifically on portraiture. In 1973 he published the highly successful photographic book Idols, which presented portraits of transvestites. Larrain sees portraiture as a way to “capture the landscape of the soul of a person”. His subjects have ranged from dancers to musicians, artists, celebrities and friends.