Rhein II | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Artist | Andreas Gursky |
Year | 1999 |
Type | Photograph |
Medium | C-print mounted to acrylic glass |
Dimensions | 190 cm× 360 cm(73 in× 143 in); [1] |
Owner | Anonymous |
Rhein II is a colour photograph made by German visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1999. [2] In the image, a river (the Lower Rhine) flows horizontally across the field of view, between flat green fields, under an overcast sky. [3] Extraneous details such as dog walkers and a factory building were removed by the artist using digital editing. [4]
In 2011, a print was auctioned for $4.3 million (then £2.7m), making it the most expensive photograph sold. Rhein II held the record until 2022, when its price was exceeded by Le Violon d'Ingres .
The photograph was produced as the second (and largest) of a set of six depicting the river Rhine. [2] In the image, the Lower Rhine flows horizontally across the field of view, between flat green fields, under an overcast sky. [3] It was taken near Düsseldorf, at a location Gursky had previously photographed in 1996. [5] Dissatisfied with his earlier image, Gursky "thought about whether I ought perhaps to change my viewpoint ... In the end I decided to digitalise the pictures and leave out the elements that bothered me". [5]
Extraneous details such as dog walkers and a factory building were removed by the artist using digital editing. [4] Justifying this manipulation of the image, Gursky said "Paradoxically, this view of the Rhine cannot be obtained in situ, a fictitious construction was required to provide an accurate image of a modern river." [6] Gursky produced a very large chromogenic colour print of the photograph, mounted it onto acrylic glass, and then placed it in a frame. [6] The image itself measures 73 by 143 inches (190 cm × 360 cm), while the frame measures 81 by 151 inches (210 cm × 380 cm). [1]
The print was originally acquired by the Galerie Monika Sprüth in Cologne, and subsequently bought by an anonymous German collector. [1] The collector sold the print by auction at Christie's New York on 8 November 2011, who estimated it would fetch a price of $2.5–3.5m. [1] It actually sold for $4,338,500 [1] (then about £2.7m); the identity of the buyer has not been revealed. [4]
The work has been described by arts writer Florence Waters in The Daily Telegraph as a "vibrant, beautiful and memorable – I should say unforgettable – contemporary twist on [...] the romantic landscape" [7] and by journalist Maev Kennedy in The Guardian as "a sludgy image of the grey Rhine under grey skies". [4]
Gursky's fifth print of the photograph, which is identical but slightly smaller at 156.4 cm × 308.3 cm (61.6 in × 121.4 in), was acquired in 2000 by Tate, a British group of art museums. [5] It remains in their collection but is not on public display. [5] Another print of the same size is held at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York; it is also not on public display. [8]
Rhein may refer to:
Large format refers to any imaging format of 9 cm × 12 cm or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the 6 cm × 6 cm or 6 cm × 9 cm size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras, and much larger than the 24 mm × 36 mm frame of 35 mm format.
Jeffrey Wall, OC, RSA is a Canadian artist best known for his large-scale back-lit Cibachrome photographs and art history writing. Early in his career, he helped define the Vancouver School and he has published essays on the work of his colleagues and fellow Vancouverites Rodney Graham, Ken Lum, and Ian Wallace. His photographic tableaux often take Vancouver's mixture of natural beauty, urban decay, and postmodern and industrial featurelessness as their backdrop.
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction.
Sigmar Polke was a German painter and photographer.
Andreas Gursky is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
Events from the year 1999 in art.
Martin Kippenberger was a German artist known for his extremely prolific output in a wide range of styles and media, superfiction as well as his provocative, jocular and hard-drinking public persona.
Thomas Ruff is a German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. He has been described as "a master of edited and reimagined images".
99 Cent II Diptychon is a two-part colour photograph made by Andreas Gursky in 2001. It was based on an original photograph called 99 Cent, from 1999, sometimes called "99 cent.1999".
Chicago Board of Trade II is a colour photograph by German artist Andreas Gursky made in 1999. It was created following his usual process of taking several pictures of the same subject and then manipulating and merging the scanned results by computer.
Chicago Board of Trade is a colour photograph made by German artist Andreas Gursky in 1997. It is the original picture that he took of the Chicago Board of Trade, of which he would make new versions in 1999 and in 2009. The photograph had six editions, one of which is at The Broad Museum, in Los Angeles. It is also a part of a series that the artist made on the subject of stock exchanges and board of trades across the world, since 1990.
Chicago Board of Trade III is a color photograph made by German artist Andreas Gursky in 1999–2009. It is the third version of the original picture, previously titled Chicago Board of Trade (1997) and Chicago Board of Trade II (1999). The artist used the same previous process of manipulating the images by computer before achieving the final result.
Los Angeles is a colour photograph made by German visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1998. It is an edition of six. The image was manipulated by computer, following the artist usual process. Its one of the largest examples of the artist's work. It depicts Los Angeles, California, at night, under a very dark sky, with the city lights shining through. The cosmic-like vision of the city even gives the impression of showing part of the Earth's curvature. A print of Los Angeles was sold at Sotheby's, London, by $2,900,000 on 27 February 2008. One copy, signed and dated in the reverse: "A Gursky "Los Angeles" 4/6 '98'" sold at a London Auction on 6 October 2017 for £1,689,000.
Paris, Montparnasse is a colour photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 1993. The large photograph has the overall dimensions of 210 by 395 cm, and had a five copies edition.
Rhein, also known as Rhein I, is a colour photograph created by the German photographer Andreas Gursky in 1996. The photograph had a six copies edition. This was the first version of a photograph that become better known with his second version, Rhein II, in 1999.
Pyongyang IV is a colour photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 2007. It is part of the series Pyongyang, consisting of seven photographs, digitally executed after his presence at the Arirang Mass Games, that used to be held every year at the Rungrado May Day Stadium, in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, in tribute to the late Communist ruler Kim Il Sung.
Frankfurt is a colour photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 2007. It was created by his usual method of digital manipulation. It has a six copies edition. It depicts a scene taking place at the boarding lounge of the Frankfurt airport, in Germany.
99 Cent is a colour photograph by German photographer Andreas Gursky, created in 1999. It depicts a view of the interior of a 99 cent store in Los Angeles. It was created with the use of digital manipulation, like the artist does for his work since 1990. The photograph was included by Time magazine in the list of the 100 most important photographs ever taken in 1999. Gursky made a new version of this photograph, 99 Cent II Diptychon, in 2001, which would be one of the most expensive ever sold.