Germany
- Artist: Josef Koudelka
- Date: 1979
- Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
- Dimensions: image: 538 × 358 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is the "Germany" by Josef Koudelka, a 1979 gelatin‑silver print that captures a fleeting moment of the Cologne Carnival. The image shows a lone figure—dressed in a white sweater, covered in paper—amidst the riotous crowd. The stark black‑and‑white palette gives it a timeless, almost cinematic quality, while the quiet isolation of the subject echoes Koudelka’s own experience of exile. After fleeing Czechoslovakia in 1970, the photographer roamed Europe, documenting festivals, Roma communities and everyday life with a raw, high‑contrast eye. "Germany" sits within his Exiles series, a body of work that looks at borders—both physical and social—through the lens of people on the margins. In this frame, the carnival’s exuberance clashes with the lone figure’s stillness, inviting viewers to contemplate the paradox of celebration and displacement.
See it in person
Germany is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
