Andreas Gursky

Thebes, West

1993

© Courtesy Monika Sprueth Galerie, Koeln / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn and DACS, London 2019

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Not on display

Artist: Andreas Gursky born 1955
Original title: Theben, West
Medium: Photograph, colour, on paper on Perspex
Dimensions: Support: 2020 x 1650 mm
image: 1677 x 1318 mm
frame: 2075 x 1704 x 50 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the Patrons of New Art (Special Purchase Fund) through the Tate Gallery Foundation 1995
Reference: P11381

Display caption

Gursky uses a bird's-eye view to portray the collective behaviour of large social groups. His compositions illuminate the complex inter-relationship between man and his immediate environment. Landscapes often bear the traces of human activity, and yet our movements and actions are themselves determined by our physical surroundings. In this image, past and present are intertwined as modern-day tourists explore the archeological site of ancient Thebes, in Egypt. The landscape is revealed layer by layer, to show history extending its reach into the present.

Gallery label, August 2004

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