Gerhard Richter

Abstract Picture (555)

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Gerhard Richter, 1932–
Abstract Picture (555), 1984
250 x 250 cm
Oil on canvas
Acquired in 2005 via the Bayer Art Collection Pittsburgh
© Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter is one the foremost painters of the twentieth and twenty-first century. He is known as the “chameleon” on account of his unpredictable style. He is always exploring new artistic possibilities and experiments with innovative approaches. His works cover the entire spectrum of painting. In his early years as an artist he concentrated on representation. He painted landscapes and still lifes, but also produced systematic colour panels and black and white photographs. In around 1976 he began to paint dazzling, expressive plays of colour. Abstract Picture (555) is from a group of works of that name that he began in 1980 and is still continuing.

Richter was born in 1932 in Dresden. He studied and taught at the college of visual arts there for nearly nine years. In 1961 he escaped to West Germany and continued his studies at the Düsseldorf art academy. Richter, who has won multiple awards, now lives in Cologne. He was made a freeman of the city in 2007.

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