Portrait of a Rocket Man: Sir Elton John’s photography collection wows at V&A

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery ‘Elton John, Egg On His Face’ by David LaChapelle, 1999 John began collecting photographs as “a much healthier addiction” after leaving rehab for cocaine use in 1990. open image in gallery ‘Simply Fragile’ by Tyler Mitchell open image in gallery ‘Black Americans’ by Bruce Davidson, 1962 Of the extensive number of artists included in the exhibition, John has outlined provocative sadomasochist Robert Mapplethorpe, who died of AIDS in 1989, and activist Nan Goldin, who extensively covered the HIV/AIDS crisis and opioid epidemic, as “two photographers of overwhelming importance”. open image in gallery ‘Poppy’ by Robert Mapplethorpe, 1988 Around the time of his landmark solo concert an Evening with Elton John in 1999, he bought the entirety of Goldin’s multi image installation Thanksgiving, which covered the White Cube gallery in London from floor to ceiling because the painful images of “drugs, AIDS, debauchery” so reminded him of his own life. open image in gallery ‘Clemens, Jens and Nicolas Laughing at Le Pulp, Paris’ by Nan Goldin, 1999 open image in gallery ‘Untitled Film Still #17’ by Cindy Sherman, 1978 Forbes describes Fragile Beauty as an intensely private collection taken into the public realm with an abundance of “personal meaning” still attached.