Gerhard Richter in Cologne

Exhibition of Abstract Paintings from October 18 till February 1

Oct 27, 2008

Museum Ludwig in Köln, Germany shows about 40 paintings by Gerhard Richter and focuses on his later abstract works created between 1986 and 2008.

Gerhard Richter became one of the most sought-after artists of our time with his blurred and enigmatic paintings based on photographs. Now he encouraged this exhibition of his abstract works, which he as usual declines to explain or comment in detail. These paintings were just meant to give pleasure, he stated at a press conference.

Layer after layer, working over the canvas with paintbrush, palette knife and squeegee again and again, he created colourful paintings that are bringing the inconceivable into form. They might look spontaneous works of art, but they are complex and well planned.

In the programme accompanying the exhibition, Steve Reich will perform his “Drumming Part One” at Museum Ludwig, followed by “Music By 18 Musicians” in the Kölner Philharmonie. Both concerts by the composer whom Richter greatly admires will take place on January 27 2009.

Gerhard Richter Biography

Richter was born in 1932 in Dresden, where he also studied art. In 1961 he fled from the German Democratic Republic via West-Berlin. He had to leave his works of art behind and resumed his studies in Düsseldorf. Here he also taught art from 1971 till 1993.

After arriving in West-Germany he tried out all kinds of modernist styles – paintings he later came to burn in the courtyard of the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie. Co-operations with other artists like Sigmar Polke became influential; together they created the “capitalist realism” that was meant as an ironic reply to the social realism in the east. In the early 1960s he also started to collect photographs and newspaper clippings, of which some became models for his famously blurred paintings – often only many years later. After his first solo exhibition in 1964 his rise to fame began.

Today he lives and works in Cologne and is regarded as Germany's most expensive painter: In February 2008 his candle painting sold at Christie's for 14,66 million USD. English newspaper The Guardian once called him the “Picasso fo the 21st century”.

Museum Ludwig

The museum is located in the centre of Cologne,close to the Kölner Dom and to the main train station. Its collection of modern art includes one of the most comprehensive compilations of Picasso paintings in Europe. Works by Andy Warhol, George Segal and Roy Lichtenstein were among the 350 paintings collected and donated to the museum by Peter and Irene Ludwig in 1976; the couple owned the biggest PopArt collection outside the United States. More art was transferred from the nearby Wallraf-Richartz-Museum.

The copyright of the article Gerhard Richter in Cologne in Special Art Gallery Exhibits is owned by Renate Oetjens. Permission to republish Gerhard Richter in Cologne in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.