Curator's Picks - Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter - Betty 1988 - artsation.com
#1 Betty 1988
Gerhard Richter

Richter's most stunning portrait features his daughter Betty (then aged 10) in a red patterned sweatshirt. The thrill of the painting lies in the mystery of her unseen face and the spectacular play of color, shadow and light that is so unique in the artists work.

Gerhard Richter - Ema (Nude on a staircase) 1966
#2 Ema (Nude on a staircase) 1966
Gerhard Richter

This famous nude, showing Richter's wife Marianne (called Ema) descending a staircase refers to Marcel Duchamp's painting "Nu descendant un escalier" from 1912 which is a key work of the classical modern. Richter admired and was inspired by Duchamp's distanced and documentary style.

Gerhard Richter - Candle 1982
#3 Candle 1982
Gerhard Richter

This beautiful painting from 1982 sold at the October 2011 Christie's auction for an incredible 12 million Euro. The candle stands as a symbol for the quiet protest of the GDR citizens against the socialist regime.

Gerhard Richter - Abstract Paintings
#4 Abstract Paintings
Gerhard Richter

Since many years now, Richter has almost exclusively devoted himself to his large-scale abstract paintings. These are created without any concept- purely intuitively as can be observed in Corinna Belz's movie 'Gerhard Richter-Painting'. These color explosions are pure artistic expression.

Gerhard Richter - Cathedral Window in Cologne
#5 Cathedral Window in Cologne
Gerhard Richter

In 2007 Richter unveiled a masterpiece: The new south window of Cologne's famous dome was turned into a 113 square meter large painting made of 10.512 colored glass mosaics.

Gerhard Richter - Uncle Rudi 1965 - artsation.com
#6 Uncle Rudi 1965
Gerhard Richter

The painting refers to a photograph taken of Richters uncle, Rudolf Schönfelder, on the day that he was enlisted into the army. As a German painter, Richter early thematized the involvement of one's own family in WWII and the emotional and psychological consequences this often had.

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