Gerhard Richter is a German artist born in Dresden in 1932. He trained as a painter in East Germany, then moved to the West in 1961 and studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Early on he worked with friends like Sigmar Polke under the loose banner of Capitalist Realism, playing with the language of popular images and mass media.
Richter is known for paintings based on photographs, often softened by a blur that suggests both memory and doubt. Alongside these works he developed large abstract paintings made by pulling layers of wet paint across the canvas with a squeegee. The result is a complex surface where chance and control meet. He has also made glass and mirror works, and a celebrated stained glass window for Cologne Cathedral.
His subjects range from family snapshots to history, most notably the October 18, 1977 cycle on the Baader Meinhof group. Museums around the world, including Tate and MoMA, hold his work, and he has been the focus of many major exhibitions. Richter has lived for many years in Cologne and remains a touchstone for artists thinking about truth, images, and the shifting nature of seeing.