Gerhard Richter became interested in art and began painting in 1962, for over half a century he has painted various works including oils on canvas, over painted photographs and the historical reference of photographs entitled, Atlas.

Richter was born in Dresden in 1932 in to a middle class family, he had the luxury of his mothers support in his work and she encouraged him and during his mid teens he began a classical education at the Dresden art Academy. Fleeing to Dusseldorf in West Germany from 1961 to 1964 he studied art at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf under the expertise of Karl Otto Gotz.

During the 1960s Richter worked with artists such as Georg Baselitz and their art began to have a big impact on Germany, followed by the international circles. The beliefs of Richter have been credited with refreshing art along with rejuvenating painting, especially as a medium, as at that time the majority of artists chose performance art. Richter went on to form a group called the Capitalist Realists along with Polke and Fischer-Lueg who often derived their subject matter from some of the very best print media. Richter went to emerge from this as one of the most sought after contemporary artistsin the world whose works of the very best often sold for millions at auction. Richters first ever solo art exhibition was in Dusseldorf in 1963 and was his photo based painting style. Ten years later Richter held his first exhibition in the USA. The 2001 retrospective at MOA showed just how diverse his art is. The majority of early work being blurred figurative paintings; this was followed by seductive abstract. His diverse range has in the past received discussion from critics thanks to his disregard for the more traditional style of art and his use of photographs. According to Richter his work comes from structures and ideas that surround him, there is nothing more profound than that. Richter has never been interested in purity of art and idealism. He has always painted images without glory, favoring the ridiculous, ordinary, tragic and beautiful. He has at the same time always left his critics and admirers guessing and often confused.

In August 2007 Richters stained glass window for the south transept of the Cologne Cathedral was revealed. The window consisted of 11,500 pieces of hand blown glass squares in more than 70 different colors and was based on the 1974 painting of Richter, 4095 Farben. Richter was made an honorary citizen of Cologne in April 2007.

Editorial | Image Courtesy Of Gerhard Richter