A curation by Flavio Scaloni, Gallery Manager at Galerie Lo Scalo - The river, or fleuve, is a primal and enduring source of artistic inspiration, often symbolizing flow, change, memory, and the passage of time. Psychologically, it represents the stream of consciousness or the journey of life. Its known symbolism includes renewal and the boundary between worlds.
In modern and contemporary art from 1950 onward, artists have explored the river beyond landscape representation to capture its conceptual depth. The photographer Andreas Gursky created the monumental work, Rhein II (1999), an abstract, digitally altered image that zeroes in on the river as a minimalist symbol of existence.
Other artists include Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who wrapped part of the Puteaux bridge over the Seine in Paris in 1975, transforming the river's surroundings. The sculptor Robert Smithson often incorporated water and site-specific materials, although his most famous earthwork, Spiral Jetty (1970), is in the Great Salt Lake. The river theme continues to inspire a diverse range of paintings, prints, and mixed-media works by contemporary global artists.
18 Artworks
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