Richter's Biggest Retrospective Opens
The largest retrospective of Gerhard Richter's career is now showing at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, assembling a comprehensive array of his iconic abstract and photorealistic works. The scale and diversity illustrate Richter's influence across multiple genres and his continual experimentation with materials and form. The exhibition highlights both established and lesser-known works from the influential German artist.
Spanning over six decades and 275 works, the exhibition was personally curated by Richter's close associates, Dieter Schwarz and Nicholas Serota. The artist himself suggested them for the task of filling the Frank Gehry-designed gallery space of over 3,000 square meters. This retrospective is unmatched in its chronological scope, featuring pieces from 1962 all the way to 2024. Born in Dresden, Germany, Gerhard Richter fled to the West in 1961, just before the construction of the Berlin Wall. This move profoundly influenced his artistic vision, and he began his mature work with the painting *Tisch (Table)* in 1962. His early career in East Germany included painting murals with socialist themes, a stark contrast to the experimental work he would later pursue. The retrospective traces Richter's radical stylistic shifts, from his early "photo-paintings" that replicate and blur photographic images to his large-scale abstract works. Visitors can follow his evolution decade by decade through the exhibition's chronological arrangement. The show includes seminal pieces like the *48 Portraits* from the 1972 Venice Biennale and the *October 18, 1977* series, on special loan from MoMA. A key technique highlighted is Richter's use of the squeegee to drag and layer paint, a method that marks his abstract canvases from the 1980s onward. This process, which introduces an element of chance, contrasts with the meticulous precision of his earlier photorealistic work. The exhibition also features his experiments with glass, steel, and digital methods, such as the *Strip* images. In 2017, Richter announced his decision to stop painting, making the final abstract canvases on display a significant part of his oeuvre. However, his artistic practice has not ceased; the exhibition concludes with a room dedicated to his more recent and ongoing work with drawings.
