Gerhard Richter

Wako Works of Art, Tokyo

Private Collection, Hiroshima

Private Collection, New York

Vanmoerkerke Collection, Belgium

Private Collection, Europe

Tokyo, Wako Works of Art, Gerhard Richter Part I: New Painting, 1996, n.p., illustrated in colour

Madrid, Galeria Arnés y Röpke, Gerhard Richter: Pinturas Abstractas, 2009

Martin Hentschel and Helmut Friedel, Gerhard Richter 1998, London 1998, no. 820-1, illustrated in colour

Exhibition Catalogue, Düsseldorf, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen; Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Gerhard Richter, 2005, no. 820-1, illustrated in colour

Armin Zweite, Gerhard Richter: Catalogue Raisonné 1993 - 2004, Düsseldorf 2005, no. 820-1, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and more vibrant in the original, with more prominent neon hues. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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Pulsating with vivid streaks of citrus yellow and acid green, Abstraktes Bild is a striking example of Gerhard Richter’s seminal Abstrakte Bilder series, a remarkable corpus of work that has become one of the most instantly recognisable manifestations of Twentieth Century abstraction. Composed of layers of vibrant hues - producing an effect that is almost neon in intensity - Abstraktes Bild appears to glow as though irradiated from within, exerting a thrilling visual impact on the viewer. The sheer brilliance of the gloriously bright tones is relieved only by small areas of deep red and blue that provide an element of intense tonal contrast. Although Richter frequently employs an array of rich colours within the Abstrakte Bilder, such an intense field of dazzling colour is a relative rarity within the series, and marks Abstraktes Bild as being a highly significant painting within the group.

Abstraktes Bild (820-1) was painted in 1994, during a period of particular personal contentment for Richter, a state that perhaps gave rise to the extraordinarily joyful intensity of the work. Following a difficult start to the decade after his divorce from Isa Genzken, the artist re-married to Sabine Moritz, a student of painting whom he had first met in 1992: a son was born to the couple in early 1995. The artist created a series of portraits of Sabine and their son during this time alongside the Abstrakte Bilder, rounding off a remarkably creative year. The palette employed by the artist within his 1994 Abstrakte Bilder is composed of primarily warm, bright tones, with red and yellow predominating, in contrast to the darker hues of the early 1990s. As one of the most brilliantly hued paintings Richter painted in 1994, Abstraktes Bild forms an integral part of this renewed interest in bold colouration, conveying a sense of irrepressible optimism and positivity.

Richter had first begun creating the forerunners of his iconic Abstrakte Bilder series around 1976, when seeking a new form of artistic expression that could signify a move away from the increasing preponderance of grey tones within his painting. The artist recalled the genesis of these early abstract works: “After those strictly monochromatic or nonchromatic paintings it was rather difficult just to keep going. Even if such a thing had been possible, I had no desire to produce variations on that theme. So I set out in the totally opposite direction. On small canvases I put random, illogical colours and forms -mostly with long pauses in between, which made sure that these paintings - if you can call them that - became more and more heterogeneous… An exciting business, at all events, as if [I had opened a new door for myself]” (the artist cited in: Dietmar Elger, Gerhard Richter, A Life in Painting, Chicago 2009, p. 231). Impelled to investigate the possibility of this discovery further, Richter began photographing specific details of these sketches to use as the basis for larger abstract paintings, re-creating the various brushstrokes on a grand scale. It was not long before Richter’s bravura painterly skill and boundless powers of imagination enabled him to create his first monumental Abstraktes Bild, many of which were shown for the first time in a major exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in 1982.

The painting of an Abstraktes Bild is a carefully orchestrated and considered process, carried out over a period of time. Working on a primed white background, Richter applies streaks and washes of pigment by means of a large tipped brush, merging colours to create an often kaleidoscopic primary layer that frequently bears no similarity to the ultimate work. After a pause, Richter returns to the painting in progress, utilising the potential of the squeegee to create a distinctive finish, removing sections of paint whilst blending other areas of pigment in a magnificently conceived amalgamation of horizontal and vertical layers of colour. Richter has spoken of the complex and manifold practices behind the creation of an Abstraktes Bild: “When I paint an abstract picture (the problem is very much the same in other cases), I neither know in advance what it is meant to look like nor, during the painting process, what I am aiming at and what to do about getting there. Painting is consequently an almost blind, desperate effort, like that of a person abandoned, helpless, in totally incomprehensible surroundings – like that of a person who possesses a given set of tools, materials and abilities and has the urgent desire to build something useful which is not allowed to be a house or a chair or anything else that has a name; who therefore hacks away in the vague hope that by working in a proper, professional way he will ultimately turn out something proper and meaningful” (the artist cited in: Dietmar Elger, Ed., Gerhard Richter Text: Writings, Interviews and Letters 1961 – 2007, London 2009, p. 142). A truly extraordinary and memorable painting in its astonishing utilisation of opulent chromatic tones and intricate painterly techniques, Abstraktes Bild is a stunning manifestation of Richter’s utterly distinctive and highly original creative language.