Andreas Gursky was born in Leipzig, Germany. He specializes in using a large-format view camera to photograph expansive scenes, then combining multiple negatives with computer technology to create large-scale images of constructed landscapes rich in color and detail. His 1999 photograph Rhine II sold for more than US$4.3 million in 2011, becoming the world’s most expensive photograph to date.

Born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1955, he grew up in a family of photographers. In 1981, he entered the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf to study photography under the conceptual artists Hilla and Bernd Becher. His innovative approach opened a new path in photography and established him as a leading contemporary photographer. Since the 1990s, he has used digital post-production to break images of everyday life into fragments and reassemble them into monumental, bird's-eye views of space. Their grandeur unsettles viewers, making familiar impressions seem strange and revealing patterns of mutual destruction and renewal between humanity and nature. These images invite reflection on globalization, standardization and capitalism within the wider social environment.