Thomas Struth (b. 1954, Geldern, Germany) is one of the leading figures in contemporary photography, known for his large-scale, detail-rich images that explore the structures of public and private life. A student of Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Struth began his career photographing the empty streets of Düsseldorf, later expanding his lens to family portraits, museum visitors, and cutting-edge technological sites.

Struth’s work probes the social fabric of modern life through a precise, objective style. His iconic Museum Photographs series, which documents visitors engaging with iconic artworks in cultural institutions, captures moments of collective attention and historical dialogue. In later series such as Paradise and Nature & Politics, he investigates both untouched landscapes and the hidden infrastructures of science and industry, revealing how progress, power, and perception are constructed.

Blending conceptual rigour with human sensitivity, Struth’s photographs illuminate how we navigate space, memory, and meaning in a visually saturated world. His work is held in major international collections and has been widely exhibited, including retrospectives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitechapel Gallery, and the Kunsthaus Zürich.

“ If I look at my work from the beginning it is more the idea of trying to establish a kind of material that one can work with for the future, rather than making nostalgic images to record something that will later become lost. „

—Thomas Struth