Andreas Gursky Exhibition Reveals New Intimate Works Alongside Monumental Photography

Renowned German photographer Andreas Gursky is showcasing a diverse new exhibition at White Cube Mason’s Yard in London, featuring both his signature large-scale panoramas and surprisingly intimate, spontaneous images, opening today.

The exhibition, which includes 16 pieces, spans Gursky’s career, from a 1980 photograph of a gas cooker in his student flatshare to recent works including an image of a glowing steel ingot at Thyssenkrupp in Duisburg, Germany, and several photographs taken with his iPhone. Gursky, now 70, famously constructs his large-scale images by digitally stitching together multiple photographs, a process that can take years per piece. “Content plays a big role,” he says, “But it’s only after I have taken a photograph that I really discover what an image is about.”

Among the new works is a photograph taken from behind a famous English pop star during a concert, a subject Gursky approached after being invited by gallerist Jay Joplin. He previously attempted a similar shot of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who declined the request, stating, “I guess it wasn’t a very charming offer – to photograph her from behind.” The exhibition also features a remake of a 1993 work depicting an apartment building in Paris, now captured in winter light to reveal more detail within the building’s windows – a concept Gursky describes as a “panopticon of habits, tastes, and how people like to furnish their flats.” This exploration of everyday life builds on Gursky’s established reputation as a chronicler of modern society, a style that has influenced contemporary photography and visual culture. You can learn more about the Düsseldorf School of Photography here.

Gursky nearly postponed the exhibition due to a lack of completed work, but ultimately created ten new pieces under pressure from Joplin. The show’s inclusion of smaller, more diaristic images, like a photograph of a towel in a bathtub, marks a departure from his typically meticulously constructed style. His work has commanded record prices at auction, with his 1999 photograph Rhein II selling for $4.3 million in 2011, a record later broken by Man Ray’s Le Violin d’Ingres in 2022, demonstrating the increasing value placed on photographic art. The exhibition runs until November 8th, and Gursky intends to continue exploring the boundaries between constructed reality and spontaneous observation in his future work.