Gerhard Richter artworks and editions

The German painter, sculptor and photographer Gerhard Richter is one of the most renowned artists of contemporary art. In 1951 the painter began to study at Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. Ten years later Richter escaped from East to West Germany and continued his studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he was taught by Ferdinand Macketanz and Karl Otto Götz.

In the early 1960s Richter started to use photographs as templates for his paintings. The hallmark of these figurative-realistic, nearly photorealistic work is the fuzziness of his motifs that shall point to the hidden truth behind these pictures. At about the same time, the artist created monumental, abstract colour charts, cityscapes and monochromatic grey paintings. From the mid-1970s Gerhard Richter’s work focused on creating abstract artworks and editions that nowadays comprehend nearly one third of his complete works. Since the late 1980s Richter uses a squeegee to rub a scape paint that he applies in large vertical and horizontal bands across his wet canvases. Throughout this process layers of colour are overlaying or are even entirely extinguished. During the creation of these pictures the materiality and effects of the colours and capturing the fortune of this creation are important aspects for this group of works.

A central theme in Richter's artworks and editions are the principles, limits and possibilities of painting. In his work, a permanent change of artistic styles is present that elude from any artistic classification. Indeed the painter questions’ the reality of his artwork. As one of the most important representatives of German modern art, Gerhard Richter has received several prizes. Worldwide solo exhibitions and retrospectives are dedicated to the artist and his artworks and editions are exhibited in international and private collections.

In September 2020, the 88-year-old painter announced his retirement from painting.