Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Rhein II

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Year
  
1999

Owner
  
Anonymous

Created
  
1999

Type
  
Photograph

Artist
  
A river flows horizontally across the field between flat green fields under an overcast sky.

Medium
  
C-print mounted to acrylic glass

Dimensions
  
190 cm × 360 cm (73 in × 143 in);

Photography
  
99 Cent II Diptychon, Untitled #96, Untitled (Cowboy), Moonrise - Hernandez - New Mexi, Bliss

Similar
  
99 Cent II Diptychon, Untitled 96, The Pond—Moonlight

Most expensive things in the world picture rhein ii


Rhein II is a photograph made by German visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1999. In 2011, a print was auctioned for $4.3 million (then £2.7m), making it the most expensive photograph ever sold.

Contents

The Rhine river flows horizontally across the field between flat green fields under an overcast sky.

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Production

The Rhine river flows horizontally across the field between flat green fields under an overcast sky in front of a factory building and transmission towers.

The photograph was produced as the second (and largest) of a set of six depicting the River Rhine. In the image, the Rhine flows horizontally across the field of view, between green fields, under an overcast sky.

The Rhine river with boats flows horizontally across the field between flat green fields with people walking their dogs under an overcast sky.

Extraneous details such as dog-walkers and a factory building were removed by the artist using digital editing. 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." Gursky produced a very large chromogenic colour print of the photograph, mounted it onto acrylic glass, and then placed it in a frame. The image itself measures 73 by 143 inches (190 cm × 360 cm), while the frame measures 81 by 151 inches (210 cm × 380 cm).

Reception and sale

A river flows horizontally across the field between flat green fields under an overcast sky.

The print was originally acquired by the Galerie Monika Sprüth in Cologne, and subsequently bought by an anonymous German collector. 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. It actually sold for $4,338,500 (then about £2.7m); the identity of the buyer has not been revealed.

A river flows horizontally across the field between flat green fields under an overcast sky.

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" and by journalist Maev Kennedy in The Guardian as "a sludgy image of the grey Rhine under grey skies".

A river flows horizontally across the field between flat green fields under an overcast sky, a photograph by Andreas Gursky.

References

Rhein II Wikipedia


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