You’re Seeing Less Than Half The Picture
- Artist: Guerrilla Girls
- Date: 1989
- Medium: Screenprint on paper
- Dimensions: image: 430 x 560 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “You’re Seeing Less Than Half The Picture” by Guerrilla Girls. It was made in 1989 as a screenprint on paper, and it’s one of thirty posters that appear in the Guerrilla Girls’ “Talk Back” portfolio. The piece is deliberately minimal – mostly blank space, with a narrow strip of text that reads, “You’re seeing less than half the picture/ without the vision of women artists and artists of colour.” That line is a punchy reminder that in the art world, the voices of women and artists of colour have been systematically left out. The Guerrilla Girls, a group of anonymous female artists who wear gorilla masks, use bold graphics, humor and stark statistics to call out sexism, racism and prejudice in galleries and museums. By turning a simple poster into a political statement, they expose the gap between what we’re shown and the richness of art that’s been erased. It’s a quick, accessible critique that forces us to look beyond the surface and question who’s being represented.
See it in person
You’re Seeing Less Than Half The Picture 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.
