Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting)
Gerhard Richter
‘Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting)’ (1990) is a masterful example from the most extensive, and arguably most innovative, body of works in Gerhard Richter’s oeuvre. Initiated in 1976, with the Abstraktes Bild series Richter moved away from his monochromatic grey canvases of the late 1960s and early 1970s, not only representing a new direction artistically, but also a new sense of confidence.
Bursting with energy, ‘Abstraktes Bild’ displays Richter’s traversal of all major stylistic and conceptual approaches to painting, undertaken with the virtuosity and confidence of a towering master. The painting is brimming with a complexity of texture and colour, combined with Richter’s convergence of exactitude and chaos to create an affecting experience for the viewer.
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Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting)
- 1990
- Oil on canvas
- 62 x 52 cm / 24 3/8 x 20 1/2 in
Gerhard Richter’s ‘Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting)’ will be presented by the gallery at Art Basel Paris 2026.
Gallery Director Zoe Sperling discusses Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1990)
‘A picture like this is painted in different layers, separated by intervals of time. … It is a highly planned kind of spontaneity.’
Gerhard Richter [1]
Gerhard Richter in his studio in Cologne, Germany, 2016. Photo: Oliver Berg / Alamy
[1] Gerhard Richter quoted in Dietmar Elger, Hans Ulrich Obrist (eds.), ‘Gerhard Richter Text. Writing, Interviews and Letters, 1961 – 2007,’ London/UK: Thames & Hudson, 2009, p. 136.