Inspirational Art

Inspirational Art
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Inspirational Art
My inspiration piece is Rhein II, a color photograph by the renowned visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1999. The 6-by-11 feet sludgy image shows a section of the Lower Rhine flowing horizontally across the field of view under an overcast sky and between banks of flat green fields. The Rhein II is not just a view of a straight stretch of river Rhine, but it is also an abstract alignment of horizontal streaks of the color of diverse widths. The picture is bisected in the middle by the horizon line: above is the blue-gray overcast sky, while below is the glassy surface of the river and the continuous band between green stripes of grass. In the immediate foreground of the photograph are a narrow pedestrian path and a thin streak of trimmed green grass.
Andreas Gursky’s Rhein II, 1999.
A print of the photograph set a new world record for photographs after it was auctioned for $4.3 million at a Christie’s auction in New York. The photograph's desolate, featureless landscape resulted from the careful digital removal of all intrusive features, including factory buildings, walkers, dogs, and cyclists. This bleakness provides an accurate image of a beautiful, striking, and modern river, free of human presence and industry. Gursky’s digital manipulation improves the image aesthetically while imparting a more formal and contemporary coherence. The horizontal distinctions between the...