Lena Rivera
German artist Gerhard Richter is considered one of the most important contemporary artists and a crucial figure in Post-War German Art. He has produced abstract and photorealistic paintings, photographs, and glass pieces. Richter's childhood coincided with the rise and fall of the Third Reich, and his early years were spent under two oppressive regimes. He began his artistic career in the academic system of East Germany, training as a muralist and painting realistic, socialist-themed imagery. After encountering the work of Jackson Pollock and Lucio Fontana in 1959, Richter adopted an all-over approach to abstraction and a process-oriented technique. He moved to Düsseldorf in 1961, where he painted Tisch (Table), which he considers his first mature artistic statement. Throughout his career, Richter has explored the relationship between photography and painting, often using photographs as the basis for his paintings and adding his characteristic blurred effect.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 9 February 1932 |
| Place of birth | Hospital Dresden-Neustadt in Dresden, Saxony, Germany |
| Education | Dresden Academy of Fine Arts |
| Training | Advertising and stage-set painting |
| Medium | Paintings, photographs, glass |
| Genre | Abstract, photorealistic, Pop Art, Fluxus, Happenings |
| Notable works | Undeniable Me (1971/72), Wall-art in underground, Duisburg (1980-1992), Cologne Cathedral Window (2007), Abstraktes Bild (1986), Domplatz, Mailand (Cathedral Square, Milan) (1968) |
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What You'll Learn
Gerhard Richter's early life and career
German painter Gerhard Richter is known for his diverse painting styles and subjects. Born on February 9, 1932, in Dresden, Germany, Richter grew up under the shadow of Nazism and within East Germany. His father, Horst, was a teacher who was eventually forced to join the National Socialist Party, while his mother, Hildegard, was a bookseller who liked to play the piano.
In 1943, the family moved to Waltersdorf, a village on the Czech border. After World War II, Horst's membership in the National Socialist Party made it difficult for him to find work, and the family struggled in the post-war years. Richter began taking evening classes in painting in 1947 in Zittau and studied stage and billboard painting from 1948 to 1951. He then returned to Dresden to attend the Hochschule for Bildende Künste Dresden, the Dresden Art Academy, where he studied free painting and mural painting. For his graduation project, he painted a large-scale mural for the German Hygiene Museum in Social Realist tradition.
After graduating, Richter worked as a master trainee at the academy from 1957 to 1961 and took commissions for the then-state of East Germany. During this time, he continued to work on murals and oil paintings, as well as self-portraits and portraits of his first wife, Ema, whom he married in 1957. In 1961, Richter entered West Germany and attended the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf from 1961 to 1963. It was during this period that he began to develop his abstract style, influenced by artists such as Jackson Pollock and Lucio Fontana.
Richter gained popularity and critical praise throughout his career, but his fame peaked during his 2005 retrospective exhibition, which declared his place among the most important artists of the 20th century. He is known for his exploration of various media, including paintings, photographs, and glass pieces. Many consider him the best living painter and the "Picasso of the 21st century."
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Photo-based paintings
German artist Gerhard Richter is known for his experimentation with diverse subjects and methods, as well as his questioning of their meanings. He is considered one of the most important contemporary German artists, with his works setting record prices at auction. Richter's oeuvre includes abstract and photorealistic paintings, photographs, and glass pieces.
In the early 1960s, Richter made a name for himself with his photo-based paintings. He would rip pictures out of magazines or newspapers, or choose ordinary, unremarkable snapshots. By selecting a photograph, Richter could focus on the act of painting without worrying about composition or narrative. After painting the image, he would add his characteristic blur, which opens up the painting and creates a tension between objectivity and subjectivity. This technique was a true pillar of his artistic practice and allowed him to explore the relationship between painting and photography.
Richter's interest in photography as a starting point for his paintings was sparked by his encounter with the work of Jackson Pollock and Lucio Fontana in 1959. He was impressed by their approach to abstraction and their process-oriented technique. In 1961, Richter left East Germany and settled in Düsseldorf, which at the time was a center of a burgeoning art scene. He created his first mature artistic statement with the painting "Tisch" (Table) in 1962, which was based on a photographic image but disrupted by bold, gestural brushwork.
In addition to his photo-based paintings, Richter also explored other subjects and styles. He painted iconic candles and landscapes, as well as field and meadow pieces. He also created the Baader-Meinhof pictures, one of his most controversial series, which discussed a group of radical left-wing German militants. Richter's work often reflects his personal experiences and the tumultuous history of modern Germany, including his childhood during World War II and his life under oppressive regimes.
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Abstract works
German visual artist Gerhard Richter is known for his bold abstract paintings, which he creates using a giant squeegee instead of a paintbrush. He has been producing abstract works since the 1970s, integrating aspects of photographic blurring and light with impasto passages of paint.
Richter's abstract works include his Cage paintings, which feature intersecting fields, lines, and swaths of uneven smears that reflect the broad squeegee tool he uses. He also created a series of abstract works in November 2008 by applying ink droplets to wet paper and using alcohol and lacquer to manipulate the ink's natural blooming and creeping.
One of Richter's most famous abstract paintings is Abstraktes Bild, which sold for £30.4 million at auction in 2015. Another notable abstract work is Strip (921-6), a digital print that derives from his Abstract Painting, 724-4. To create Strip (921-6), Richter digitised Abstract Painting, 724-4, dissected and stretched it into thin horizontal strips, and laminated the digital prints onto aluminium behind Perspex.
Richter's abstract paintings are characterised by their blurred effects and glistening, photographic quality. He achieves these effects by blending, smearing, and scraping layers of paint with his squeegee, resulting in spontaneous and expressive marks. By using a squeegee instead of a brush, Richter introduces elements of unpredictability to his work, allowing the final image to take on its own identity beyond his original conception.
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Portraits and personal life
German artist Gerhard Richter is considered one of the most important contemporary artists and a crucial figure in Post-War German Art. He has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs, and glass pieces. Richter's childhood coincided almost precisely with the rise and fall of the Third Reich, and he began his artistic career twenty years later within the academic system of East Germany.
Richter's early life was marked by the tumultuous history of modern Germany. Born in 1932 in Dresden, Germany, he experienced the bombing of Dresden by the Allied Forces in 1945. At the age of 10, he was conscripted into the Deutsches Jungvolk, a youth organization of the Nazi Party. In 1943, his family moved to Waltersdorf, and his mother was forced to sell her piano. Richter left school after the 10th grade and apprenticed as an advertising and stage-set painter before studying at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1947, Richter began taking evening classes in painting in Zittau. From 1948 to 1951, he studied stage and billboard painting before returning to Dresden to start his formal art studies at the Hochschule for Bildende Künste Dresden, the Dresden Art Academy. During this time, he lived with his aunt Gretl and later moved in with friends on the same street as Marianna Eufinger, known as 'Ema', whom he married in 1957. They had a daughter together.
In the 1960s, Richter gained recognition for his photo paintings, often based on ordinary snapshots or images from magazines and newspapers. He would then add his characteristic blurred effect, disrupting the photographic image with gestural brushwork. This interest in the relationship between photography and painting became a pillar of his artistic practice, exploring the tensions between belief and skepticism, gesture and erasure, and personal engagement and objective neutrality.
Richter's personal life influenced his work, particularly in the 1970s when his marriage with Ema was ending, and he lost his friend Blinky Palermo. This period is marked by grey paintings and melancholy seascapes. In 1979, he formally separated from Ema and began a new chapter, marked by colour and abstract works. In 1982, he married sculptor Isa Genzken and moved to a new studio in Cologne, where he continues to reside.
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Stained glass and other media
German visual artist Gerhard Richter is known for his exploration of various media, including stained glass, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Born in 1932, Richter has become one of the most important contemporary German artists, with his works achieving record prices at auction.
Richter's interest in current affairs, consumer society, new media, and popular culture is reflected in his art. He often depicted televisions, design magazines, advertisements, political figures, and events in his paintings, blurring the lines between objectivity and subjectivity. This fascination with different media extended to his use of stained glass and other sculptural materials.
One of Richter's notable stained glass works is the Cologne Cathedral Window, installed in 2007. It consists of 11,000 hand-blown glass panels, each measuring 9.6 x 9.6 cm, and featuring 72 colours and shades. The total size of the window is an impressive 2300 x 900 cm (106 sqm). The window creates a unique experience, with slight changes in the day's light creating a mesmerising effect within the cavernous space of the cathedral.
In 2020, Richter unveiled three 30-foot-tall stained-glass windows for the Tholeys Abbey, one of Germany's oldest monasteries. He considered these to be his last major works in glass, intending to focus on drawings and sketches going forward.
In addition to his work in stained glass, Richter has created sculptures using glass. In the 1970s, he introduced colourful abstract works and explored the relationship between perception, colour, light, space, depth, and optics. This period marked a new chapter in Richter's oeuvre, moving from grey to colour, and from painting to sculpture.
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Frequently asked questions
Gerhard Richter has produced many paintings, including 'Two Candles' (1982), 'Abstraktes Bild' (1979), 'Tisch' (1962), 'Cathedral Square, Milan' (1968), and 'Betty' (1988).
Gerhard Richter is considered one of the most important contemporary German artists, and his paintings have set record prices at auction. Some of his most expensive paintings include 'Abstraktes Bild' (1986), which sold for $44.52 million (£30.4 million) in 2015, and 'Cathedral Square, Milan' (1968), which sold for $37.1 million (£24.4 million) in 2013.
Gerhard Richter has created several notable series of paintings. One example is a series of townscapes from the late 1960s, inspired by his experience of exploring the ruins of Dresden after it was bombed during World War II. Another notable series is the Baader-Meinhof pictures, one of his most controversial collections, which discusses a group of radical left-wing German militants.
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