Gerhard Richter is an exceptional personality?not only because his pictures are world famous, but also because he has demonstrated a new approach to painting. His pictures neither cultivate a modest interplay of colors and forms nor deliver an intact picture of reality, but rather move between abstraction and representation, sensuousness and denial. Richter is a skeptical artist who questions the reality of his art even when the prime subject of his paintings is tangibility itself.

            This volume sheds new light on Richter?s early creative years, which offer insight into the ambivalent attitudes that persist throughout his oeuvre. His door, curtain, and window pictures of the 1960s form the central focus of this volume, staging as they do a playful examination of the illusory nature of art, which always questions what painting shows or conceals. Outstanding pieces of the last 15 years complement this overview of Richter?s early oeuvre.

Celebrating the master artist?s eighty-fifth birthday, this beautifully illustrated volume showcases key works from one of the most famous personalities in the world of painting.