Gerhard Richter
German visual artist (born 1932)
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Key Takeaways
- Gerhard Richter ( German: [ˈɡeːɐ̯haʁt ˈʁɪçtɐ] ; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist.
- He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction, with him being the most expensive living painter at one time.
- Personal life Childhood and education Richter was born in Hospital Dresden-Neustadt in Dresden, Saxony, and grew up in Reichenau (now Bogatynia, Poland), and in Waltersdorf (Zittauer Gebirge), in the Upper Lusatian countryside, where his father worked as a village teacher.
- Hildegard's father, Ernst Alfred Schönfelder, at one time was considered a gifted pianist.
- Once in Dresden, Hildegard trained as a bookseller, and in doing so realized a passion for literature and music.
Gerhard Richter (German: [ˈɡeːɐ̯haʁt ˈʁɪçtɐ]; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction, with him being the most expensive living painter at one time.
Richter has been called the "greatest living painter", "the world's most important artist" and the "Picasso of the 21st century".
Personal life
Childhood and education
Richter was born in Hospital Dresden-Neustadt in Dresden, Saxony, and grew up in Reichenau (now Bogatynia, Poland), and in Waltersdorf (Zittauer Gebirge), in the Upper Lusatian countryside, where his father worked as a village teacher. Gerhard's mother, Hildegard Schönfelder, gave birth to him at the age of 25. Hildegard's father, Ernst Alfred Schönfelder, at one time was considered a gifted pianist. Ernst moved the family to Dresden after taking up the family enterprise of brewing and eventually went bankrupt. Once in Dresden, Hildegard trained as a bookseller, and in doing so realized a passion for literature and music. Gerhard's father, Horst Richter, was a mathematics and physics student at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden. The two were married in 1931.
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