Tom Gauld’s Landscape Portrait Skewers Selfie Culture

Tom Gauld has a knack for saying a lot with very little, and his cover for the June 29, 2026, issue of The New Yorker is another perfect example. Titled “Landscape Portrait,” the illustration delivers a sharp, funny observation about the way many of us now experience art and travel through the lens of a smartphone.

The idea came after Gauld visited an exhibition of early Netherlandish drawings at the British Museum. He was captivated by the incredible landscapes, tiny, intricate works filled with remarkable depth that drew your eye from blades of grass in the foreground all the way to ships on the distant horizon. But the moment he stepped outside the peaceful gallery, the atmosphere changed completely. He found himself surrounded by crowds of tourists happily photographing everything with their phones.

That experience became the foundation for Landscape Portrait. The cover shows a tourist posing for a selfie in front of an enormous, beautifully detailed classical landscape painting. It’s an instantly recognizable scene that anyone who has visited a major museum has probably witnessed.

What makes the illustration work so well is the contrast. Gauld’s meticulously rendered landscape is rich with detail, while the modern tourist is drawn in his signature minimalist style. The difference creates an immediate visual punchline without needing a single word of dialogue.

Fans of Gauld’s work will immediately recognize his trademark dry, understated humor. Like many of his cartoons, the joke isn’t loud or exaggerated. Instead, it quietly points out how our relationship with art, travel, and even memories has changed. Rather than simply admiring a masterpiece, many visitors seem more interested in documenting that they were there.

Perhaps the funniest part is the cover’s built-in irony. A drawing that gently pokes fun at our obsession with photographing and sharing experiences is now being viewed, liked, and reposted across social media, almost entirely on the same smartphones it satirizes. It’s a clever reminder that sometimes we spend so much time capturing the moment that we forget to actually experience it.