Thomas Struth, a disciple of Gerhard Richter and Bernd and Hilla Becher, is one of the most renowned contemporary photographers, known for exploring the relationship between the viewer, the artwork, and the museum space. Since the beginning of his career, he has investigated the visual experience, analysing both works of art and human interaction with artistic creation.

After the psychological portrait Giles Robertson, Edinburgh (1987), in which Struth chose to show the environment of the person portrayed, he developed the series Photographs of Museums between 1989 and 1990. This set of large colour prints shows anonymous individuals and crowds looking at iconic works of Western art in the world's most visited museums.

The Audience series (2004-2005), which includes the work Audience 4 (Galleria dell'Accademia - Florence), 2004, is an example of this interaction between the public and art. At the invitation of the director of the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, Struth took part in the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo's David. For a week, he used a large format camera (8 x 10), placed under the sculpture, to capture images of visitors in front of the David sculpture. The use of artificial lighting and its manipulation allowed the spectators to stand out, diluting the presence of the works in the background. This contrast created a space for reflection on the spectator's role in artistic interpretation, shifting the focus from the work to their experience in the museum context. Of the 16 photographs produced, three were exhibited with David and the rest at the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York that same year.

By photographing visitors from the perspective of the work itself, Struth documents and questions how people experience and relate to the work of art. His work reflects the relationship between past and present, exploring the tension between the historical and the contemporary in the viewer's individual and collective experience.

Stuart Carvalhais

Artworks

Sem título [Untitled]s.d.

Thomas Struth

Antoni Tàpies