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Gerhard Richter

German visual artist (b. 1932) · Germany · Artists

Gerhard Richter is read about 859 times a day, in 48 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 83 days, one point a day.

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He moves between blur and razor focus, abstraction and photorealism, refusing to settle. The market has called him the most expensive living painter; critics have tried calling him the greatest. Richter keeps working.

ArtistsArtistPaintingArtPhotographyGermanyEurope20th Century

A life in dates

2018European Cultural AwardAward2004Arts and Culture Prize of German CatholicsAward2003Honorary Citizen of CologneAward2000State Prize of North Rhine-WestphaliaAward1997Praemium ImperialeAward1982Arnold-Bode-PreisAward1972“This superficial blurring has something to do with the incapacity I have just mentioned.”In their wordsin an interview with Rolf Schön, 1972; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Techniques'

1964“Composition is a side issue. Its role in my selection of photographs is a negative one at best.”In their wordsNotes, 1964; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Techniques'

“I blur things to make everything equally important and equally unimportant. I blur things so that they do not look artistic or craftsmanlike but technological, smooth and perfect.”In their wordsNotes, 1964-65; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Techniques'

“Art is not a substitute religion: it is a religion (in the true sense of the word: 'binding back', 'binding' to the unknowable, transcending reason, transcendent being).”In their wordsNotes, 1964-65; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Art'

1963“Pop art is neither an American invention nor an import, yet the terms and names were coined in the US, where they were popularised much faster than in Germany.”In their words29 April 1963Quote from Richter's letter to 'Neue Deutsche Wochenschau', 29 April 1963; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter:

1962“Picturing things, taking a view, is what makes us human; art is making sense and giving shape to that sense. It is like the religious search for God.”In their wordsNotes, 1962; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Art'

1932Born9 February 1932

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Gerhard Richter, Prague (2017)Gerhard Richter, Prague (2017)E Wehrmann - Gerhard Richter (Berlin 1967)E Wehrmann - Gerhard Richter (Berlin 1967)2019-9-2 Kyoto IMG 53672019-9-2 Kyoto IMG 5367Anlieferung des Wandbildes Illusionen HSGH 022-001502-02Anlieferung des Wandbildes Illusionen HSGH 022-001502-02Bundestag, Berlin (Ank Kumar) 09Bundestag, Berlin (Ank Kumar) 09Empfang für Joachim Kardinal Meisner - Abschied aus dem Amt nach 25 Jahren-6998Empfang für Joachim Kardinal Meisner - Abschied aus dem Amt nach 25 Jahren-6998Empfang für Joachim Kardinal Meisner - Abschied aus dem Amt nach 25 Jahren-6999Empfang für Joachim Kardinal Meisner - Abschied aus dem Amt nach 25 Jahren-6999Empfang für Joachim Kardinal Meisner - Abschied aus dem Amt nach 25 Jahren-7017Empfang für Joachim Kardinal Meisner - Abschied aus dem Amt nach 25 Jahren-7017

In their own words 10

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Gerhard Richter
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10 statements, newest first

  1. This superficial blurring has something to do with the incapacity I have just mentioned.

    1972, in an interview with Rolf Schön, 1972; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Techniques', Own words

  2. [question: How do you interpret your role as a painter in our society?] As a role that everyone has. I would like to try to understand what is.

    1970, Quote from the interview with Rolf-Gunter Dienst, 1970; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Art', Own words

  3. Contact with like-minded painters - a group means a great deal to me: nothing comes in isolation. We have worked out our ideas largely by talking them through.

    1964, Notes, 1964; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Other subjects', Own words

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Awards

European Cultural Award2018
Arts and Culture Prize of German Catholics2004
Honorary Citizen of Cologne2003
State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia2000
Praemium Imperiale1997
Arnold-Bode-Preis1982
Goslarer Kaiserring
Wolf Prize in Arts

In their orbit

Spouse: Isa Genzken

About this person

Born in 1932 in Germany, Gerhard Richter built a practice that refuses a single style: photorealistic paintings sit beside abstractions, photographs beside glass pieces. The range itself became the signature. His work began commanding record prices at auction, and for a time he held the title of most expensive living painter. Critics reached for comparisons - "Picasso of the 21st century," "the world's most important artist" - labels he neither courted nor deflected. He remains, at over ninety, one of contemporary Germany's most significant visual artists, still producing in a career that has spanned more than six decades.

Country
Germany
Category
Artists
Type
Artist
Status
living
Dates
Born 1932 · age 94

In common with Gerhard

Vlado KreslinAlso in Ulay (2013)Chuck CloseAlso in Ulay (2013)Paul GeoffreyAlso in At the Fountainhead (Of German Strength) (1980)Brice MardenAlso in Speaking of Abstraction: A Universal Language (1999)Thomas KufusAlso in Gerhard Richter Painting (2011)Marina AbramovićAlso in Ulay (2013)

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