William Eggleston at London’s National Portrait Gallery: Dreamlike photos from the man who inspired David Lynch

CNN  — 

He’s inspired the films of David Lynch, Sofia Coppola, and Harmony Korine. Now, visitors to the National Portrait Gallery in London can appreciate one of America’s most recognized photographers for themselves.

"Untitled, 1970," a self-portrait, by William Eggleston

“William Eggleston Portraits” brings together over 100 images from the American photographer, including shots of Clash singer Joe Strummer and actor-director Dennis Hopper among more anonymous faces.

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Best known for his saturated, dreamlike visions of life in the American south, Eggleston is considered one of the first photographers to establish color photography as a respected art form.

“There is nothing quite like the color in an Eggleston photograph – radiant in their beauty, that get deep under the skin and linger in the imagination,” said curator Phillip Prodger in a statement. “His pictures are as fresh and exciting as they were when they first grabbed the public’s attention in the 1970s.”

Unseen works debut

Though he’d been shooting since the late 1950s, Eggleston came to wider prominence when, in 1976, New York’s Museum of Modern Art exhibited his color photos, praising how he managed to “use color in a confident spirit of freedom and naturalness.”

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The National Portrait Gallery retrospective – the largest to date – will also include never-before-seen black-and-white images from the 1960s.

“William Eggleston Portraits” is on at the National Portrait Gallery in London until October 23, 2016.