Gerhard Richter

Born in Dresden in 1932, Gerhard Richter grew up in Upper Lusatia. After training as a typeface, stage and advertising designer, he began his studies at the Dresden Art Academy in 1951. From 1957 to 1961 Gerhard Richter worked as a master student at the academy and took on state commissions from the GDR. Via West Berlin, Gerhard Richter fled to West Germany in 1961, where he continued his art studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1961 to 1964. There he was appointed professor of painting in 1971 and continued to teach until 1993. Only a few of Richter’s works in the GDR have survived. After his arrival in the West, Richter tried out numerous styles of modern painting. After this phase, his work was mainly influenced by Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism as well as Neo-Dada and Fluxus. From 1960 Richter used photographs as models for paintings – a recurring technique in his work. Richter’s oeuvre shows a wide range with different tendencies. All his works are characterised by an experimental and inquisitive examination of reality. Gerhard Richter has recently shown his works at the Ludorff Gallery in Düsseldorf (2023), the Gagosian Gallery in London (2023) and the Hamburger Kunsthalle in Germany (2023).