Born in Dresden, Gerhard Richter endured World War II during his childhood, with its conclusion overlapping with the onset of his adolescence. Reflecting on the occupation of Germany, Richter reminisces about the sudden abundance of books, previously confined to the homes of the affluent, now accessible to all courtesy of the Russian army occupying those premises during their advance. It was precisely this vast reservoir of illustrated books that sparked Richter’s initial foray into drawing and prompted his early exploration of art, often delving into print collections featuring the works of Velázquez, Dürer, and Corinth whenever they crossed his path. His interest in art began to materialize in his early experiments: landscapes, self-portraits, and copies of printed images.
In 1947, Richter enrolled in an evening painting class and in 1950 he was hired as an assistant set decorator at the Zittau theater. Fired shortly thereafter, he applied to the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he was admitted in 1951. In 1961 he also applied to the Düsseldorf Academy, which had a more progressive teaching approach and enabled him to learn more about Western art. This reflected in the paintings made during these years, partly destroyed by the artist himself, painted in a hybrid style ranging from Dubuffet, to Giacometti, to Tapies. The Düsseldorf Academy was a hub of informal painting and became soon the center of activities of the Fluxus group and in particular of Joseph Beuys, who was appointed professor shortly after Richter’s arrival. The art scene went far beyond the walls of the institution: it comprised a dynamic community of artists, a rich program of exhibitions and events involving the city’s surroundings as far as Cologne. Activities were enriched by the presence of, among others, the ZERO group founded by Otto Piene and Heinz Mack in 1957. At the Academy, Richter joined Karl Otto Götz’s group, which attracted the brightest students, and met Sigmar Polke, Konrad Fischer and Blinky Palermo.
Richter’s first exhibition following those organized by the Academy, was with Manfred Kuttner at the Junge Kunst gallery in Fulda, a city in the heart of Germany close to the East German border. Richter, Lueg, Polke and Kuttner also exhibited together in May 1963 in an empty store they had rented to the public administration in the center of Düsseldorf’s Old Town. In October of that year Richter and Lueg organized an exhibition and performance in a city furniture store titled Living with Pop: rally in favor of capitalist realism.
Richter’s burgeoning interest for current affairs, consumer culture, media, and popular trends increasingly surfaced in his paintings during this period including: Party (1963), Table (1962), President Johnson tries to console Mrs. Kennedy (1963) and Folding Clothesline (1962). These works marked the inception of Richter’s primary artistic pursuit—employing photographs as the foundation for his paintings, a concept previously unimaginable in academic circles. Embarking on this novel path, Richter delved into probing the interplay between photographic imagery and painting. In 1963, he adopted blurred technique in pieces like Pedestrians at Alster. Subsequently, in 1964, Richter started a series of bomber paintings while intensifying his output of portraits, predominantly rendered in black and white, sourced from newspaper images or discovered photographs, some of which depicted his own family members. In 1964, he exhibited at Galerie Friedrich&Dahlem, a couple of months later at Alfred Schmela’s, and finally held a solo show at René Bloch’s.
Although Richter liked to choose a wide variety of subjects, always mindful of the issues they might provoke, he displayed a distinct inclination toward certain themes that would become increasingly prominent in the years ahead. Military aircraft, family portraits—including both his own and those of others—and depictions of groups of people emerged as the primary motifs in his works from this period, exemplified by pieces such as The Liechti Family, Gathering, and Hunting Party. Similar to Andy Warhol’s approach with his Disasters series, Richter also, in his own manner, unveiled the morbid fascination that human suffering holds for individuals, as well as the media’s exploitation of this sentiment.
This is evident from the very early works such as: Dead (1963), Coffin Bearers (1962) and Woman with Umbrella (1964). The themes of death and crime continued in later years with works such as: Uncle Rudi (1965), Aunt Marianne, Mr. Hevde e Mature Helga (1966).
In 1966, Richter’s artistic reach expanded internationally with exhibitions abroad, commencing at Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome and later at Bruno Bischofberger’s City-Galerie in Zurich. Concurrently, this marked the introduction of a new artistic tool: geometric abstraction, alongside the inception of paintings centered on the female form, as exemplified by Ema (Naked on a Ladder). Subsequently, in 1967, Richter delved into representations of aerial perspectives, depicting cities and villages such as Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Madrid, and Paris.
Overall, the 1960s ended on a positive note in many ways. Although he still had doubts about his own artistic practice and its developments, the artist held his first exhibition in a public institution in the spring of 1969, at the Gegenverkehr e.V. – Zentrum für aktuelle Kunst in Aachen, as well as solo shows in René Block’s galleries and the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan, and group shows in Germany, Switzerland and New York.
Since the late 1960s, Richter felt compelled to sift through the iconographic material he had amassed over the years and present it in a cohesive form. Hence, the Atlas was conceived, a collection that has been exhibited numerous times, notably at Documenta X in 1997. However, in the early 1970s, the artist made a deliberate return to geometric abstraction, infusing his works with a random element in his selection of colors. From this phase emerged works such as 192 Colors, 4 Colors, 4096 Colors, 1024 e 1025 Colors. Also dating back to the 1960s and 1970s were experiments with gray monochromes, known simply as Greys and occasional returns to figurative painting, with themes such as landscapes and portraits, such as those presented at the 1972 Biennale (48 Portraits, 1971-72).
By the early 1980s, figurative painting experienced a resurgence in certain art circles, largely propelled by the neo-expressionism movement, also known as Neue Wilde in Germany. In the United States, Philip Guston and Julian Schnabel emerged as leading figures in this genre, while in Germany, Georg Baselitz and Anselm Kiefer commanded significant attention. The 1982 exhibition titled A New Spirit in Painting at the Royal Academy in London brought together these artists, including Richter. Notably, the most prominent photo-painting series of the decade was October 18, 1977 (1988), comprising fifteen works referencing the conclusion of the Red Army Faction as well as Betty (1988) a portrait of Richter’s eldest daughter.
By the late 1980s, Richter had ascended to international acclaim as a painter, with his works increasingly circulating within secondary market circuits. The first major retrospective was held in 1986 at the Städtische Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf, followed by exhibitions in Berlin, Bern, and Vienna. Concurrently, Richter initiated collaborations with Marian Goodman in New York and Anthony d’Offay in London. Beginning in the early 1990s, Richter revisited some of the experimental approaches from earlier in his career, turning his attention to mirrors and glass. This exploration yielded notable pieces such as Mirror, Gray, Mirror, Blood Red, and Corner Mirror, Green-Red. Additionally, in 1992, Richter delved into paintings characterized by stripes and grids, a theme that had surfaced as early as 1972 with the series Red-blue-yellow and was now being revived with the cycle of four works entitled Bach (1992). The latter series paved the way for other important cycles and particularly the series Cage (2006), exhibited in 2008 at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne. The following year a new retrospective opened at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, while the artist produced over the decade other important photo-paintings such as Hahnwald (1997), Orchid (1998), Marina (1998) and Summer Day (1999).
The imperative to harmonize the photographic medium with both abstraction and figuration surfaces prominently in Richter’s series Florence (2000). This series, reminiscent of some of his earlier works from the 1980s, introduced the technique of painting over photography. Additionally, 2002 marked a significant milestone with the staging of a major retrospective titled Forty Years of Painting at MoMA, featuring an impressive collection of 190 works.
Dating back to 2005, Richter produced September in response to the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy. Subsequently, in 2007, he fulfilled a significant commission received in 2002 to design a stained-glass window for Cologne Cathedral. To mark his 80th birthday, major retrospectives were organized at prestigious venues, including Tate Modern in London, Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, and Centre Pompidou in Paris. Titled Gerhard Richter: Panorama (2011-2012), these exhibitions celebrated the career of one of the most prolific artists of the modern era.