Rhine II
Andreas Gursky
Rhein II
digitally processed photograph
185.4 × 363.5 cm
private collection
Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )
Rhein II is a color photograph by the German artist Andreas Gursky from 1999.
background
The picture was taken for a second and larger C-Print edition with the motif “ Rhine ”. The copies are numbered from 1/6 to 6/6 on the back and hand-signed. Gursky shows a radically reduced landscape. Under an overcast sky, the Rhine flows horizontally between grassy dikes . An asphalt bicycle and footpath can be seen under the front dike. The Lausward power plant, which was originally photographed with, and other port facilities in the background, as well as a person in the foreground walking her dog, were digitally removed by Gursky. The picture was taken from the dike on Rheinallee in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel between Walkürenstrasse and Hectorstrasse. He had the picture exposed in a C-print process in a size of 185.4 × 363.5 cm and mounted with the picture side on acrylic glass .
The Monika Sprüth gallery in Cologne acquired the 1/6 print and sold it to an anonymous German collector. On November 8, 2011, the picture reached a price of 3.1 million euros at a Christie's auction in New York , making it at times the most expensive photograph in the world. The identity of the buyer is - as is often the case with auctions by international auction houses, where bids can also be made over the phone - not known. Another copy (5/6) is in the collection of the Tate Gallery in London. Copy 4/6 is in the possession of the Pinakothek in Munich. Further specimens are in the Museum of Modern Art , New York and in the Glenstone Collection , Potomac.
Another motif, "Rhine" (later referred to as "Rhine I"), dates back to 1996 and dealt with the same theme. It was also printed in an edition of 6 copies in the format 145.8 × 180.8 cm. The 3/6 was auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York for $ 1,805,000 in 2014. The 6/6 sold for $ 2,098,500 in a previous auction in 2011. Further copies of "Rhein I" exist in the format 186 × 222 cm.
Web links
- Rhine II at Christie's
Individual evidence
- ^ Message in the Rheinische Post , accessed on November 26, 2011
- ↑ Message on the BBC website , accessed on November 14, 2011
- ↑ Christie's: Overview of the prices achieved so far for the works of Gursky, partly with illustrations , accessed on November 14, 2011
- ↑ Internet site: Tate Gallery
- ↑ Internet site: Pinakothek, Munich
- ↑ Website: Whitewalls.ch