How does this artwork elucidate its Production?
The photograph was produced as the second (and largest) of a set of six depicting the river Rhine. In the image, the Lower Rhine flows horizontally across the field of view, between flat green fields, under an overcast sky. It was taken near Düsseldorf, at a location Gursky had previously photographed in 1996. Dissatisfied with his earlier image, Gursky "thought about whether I ought perhaps to change my viewpoint ... In the end I decided to digitalise the pictures and leave out the elements that bothered me".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).
Rhine previously photographed in 1996 Lower Rhine chromogenic acrylic glass Düsseldorf