Photograph, colour, on paper on perspex
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Tate Patrons
Patrons of New Art
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andreas-gursky-2349" aria-label="More by Andreas Gursky" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Andreas Gursky</a>
Thebes West
Presented by the Patrons of New Art (Special Purchase Fund) through the Tate Gallery Foundation 1995
adults
aerial view
architecture
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
classical
countries and continents
Egypt
Egypt
Egyptian
emotions, concepts and ideas
environment / nature
figure
formal qualities
history
history
people
periods and styles
photographic
places
river
ruins
Thebes
townscape
townscape
townscapes / man-made features
universal concepts
water: inland
<p>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.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print photograph colour perspex
19 July 2003 – 11 January 2004
2004-01-11
19 July 2003 – 11 January 2004
2004-01-11
2003-07-19
Lowry Museum (Salford, UK)
2003-07-19
The Impossible View
Loan-out
1 September 2022 – 1 April 2023
2023-04-01
1 September 2022 – 1 January 2023
2023-01-01
2022-09-01
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts (Norwich, UK)
2022-09-01
Visions of Egypt
Loan-out
Thebes, West
support: 2020 × 1650 mm
image: 1677 × 1318 mm
frame: 2076 × 1705 × 50 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999965" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Patrons of New Art</a> (Special Purchase Fund) through the Tate Gallery Foundation 1995
<p>Gursky uses a bird's-eye view to portray the collective behaviour of large social groups.  His <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>compositions</span></a> 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.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-27T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults aerial view architecture cities, towns, villages (non-UK) classical countries and continents Egypt Egypt Egyptian emotions, concepts and ideas environment / nature figure formal qualities history history people periods and styles photographic places river ruins Thebes townscape townscape townscapes / man-made features universal concepts water: inland