Andreas Gursky awarded the State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia 2025

Andreas Gursky has been awarded the 2025 State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Düsseldorf-based photographer has received the honour in recognition of his long and successful career, his lasting influence on contemporary photography and his significant contribution to the cultural landscape of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Gursky was awarded the prize by Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst, who has said, ‘Andreas Gursky is a true master of photography and an icon of contemporary art. He is an ambassador for North Rhine-Westphalia all over the world and has already written art history today. His monumental works shape the art scene far beyond North Rhine-Westphalia. With his art, Gursky creates motifs that capture the pulse of our presence in its clarity, depth and size. He reveals the architecture of the world, he intervenes in it and enables unprecedented perspectives. He permeates the patterns of nature as well as that of civilization and creates images in which the individual detail does not perish, but is part of overarching structures and entanglements.’