A portrait of Gerhard Richter by Werner Bartsch.

With a career spanning from the 1960s to the present, 

(b. 1932) is widely celebrated as one of the most important artists of his generation. He has pursued a diverse and influential practice characterized by a decades-long commitment to painting and its formal and conceptual possibilities. The artist has consistently probed the relationship between painting and photography, engaging a variety of styles and innovative techniques in a complex repositioning of genres.

Richter was born in Dresden, Germany. He studied art at the Dresden Hochschule für Bildende Künste from 1951 to 1956, with mural painting as his concentration. In 1959, he visited Documenta II, held in Kassel, Germany, an experience that inspired him to alter his artistic trajectory. After his escape from East Germany in 1961, he completed a second course of study at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. There, he united with fellow students Sigmar Polke, Konrad Lueg (later known as the gallerist Konrad Fischer), and Manfred Kuttner to collectively form the short-lived “capitalist realism” group.

From 1964 onward, Richter has had many solo exhibitions in renowned galleries and museums worldwide. The artist’s first solo exhibition in a public institution was held at the Gegenverkehr, Zentrum für aktuelle Kunst, in Aachen, Germany, in 1969. In 1972 he was selected as the only artist to represent Germany in its national pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Richter has exhibited at Documenta, in Kassel, Germany, more times than any other artist (1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2007, and 2017).

Richter’s work has been presented in numerous solo shows and retrospective exhibitions at important institutions worldwide, including the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (1971, 1986); Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany (1975); Centre Pompidou, Paris (1977, 2012); Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf (1986); Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (1986, 2012, 2023); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (1988, 2003); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1989, 2002); Tate, London (1991, 2011); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1993); Art Institute of Chicago (2002); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2002); Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2017); The Met Breuer, New York (2020); and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2022). In April 2023, the Nationalgalerie in Berlin opened 

. This special long-term presentation features works that the Gerhard Richter Foundation gave to the museum on permanent loan in 2021, including Richter’s 

 (2014) cycle of large-scale abstract paintings. A new large-scale outdoor sculpture by Richter, 

 (2023), is currently on view at Serpentine South, in Kensington Gardens, London, until October 2024.

Richter has been honored with a number of significant awards, among them the Kunstpreis Junger Westen, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany (1967); Arnold-Bode-Preis, Kassel, Germany (1981); Oskar-Kokoschka-Preis, Vienna (1985); Goslarer Kaiserring, Goslar, Germany (1988); Golden Lion at the 47th Venice Biennale (1997); Praemium Imperiale Award, Japan Art Association, Tokyo (1997); Wexner Prize, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio (1998); Foreign Honorary Membership of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (1998); Staatspreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2000); and the Kunst- und Kulturpreis der deutschen Katholiken, Deutsche Bischofskonferenz, Bonn, Germany (2004). In 2007 Gerhard Richter received honorary citizenship of Cologne, Germany, and in the same year he designed a spectacular glass window for the Cologne Cathedral.

David Zwirner began representing the artist in 2023. The same year, the gallery presented a solo exhibition in New York of new and recent abstract works by Richter. The presentation was accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with a new essay by Dieter Schwarz. In early 2024, a solo exhibition of Richter's work was on view at David Zwirner, London. Prior exhibitions organized by the gallery in New York include 

Gerhard Richter: Prints & Multiples 1966–1993

Work by Richter is held in important public and private collections worldwide. He lives and works in Cologne.

Edited with text by Brigitte Kölle. Text by Juliane Au, Hubertus Butin, Johanna Hornauer, Vija Celmins, Gerhard Richter

Contemplating perception and representation with two titans of photorealism

This publication brings together for the first time the work of New York–based artist Vija Celmins (born 1938) and Colgone-based painter Gerhard Richter (born 1932) in a transatlantic dialogue that reveals surprising connections. Their works have been paired together at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in an exhibition spanning over 60 paintings, drawings, prints and objects. This study offers comparisons between some of the artists’ most notable works, including Celmins’ 

. In addition to their thematic similarities and the fact that both have worked with photographic models throughout their careers, Celmins and Richter share an interest in the most elementary conditions of representation. This revelatory pairing invokes questions of reality, visibility and the nature of perception itself.

Vija Celmins & Gerhard Richter: Double Vision

Vija Celmins & Gerhard Richter: Double Vision | Books

David Zwirner is an art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Hong Kong. We present physical and online exhibitions, podcasts, books, and more.