The German painter Gerhard Richter, born 1932, in Dresden spends his childhood and youth in Waltersdorf in the Oberlausitz. He studies painting at the Dresden Art Academy from 1951 to 1956. In 1961, just a few months before the wall is built, Richter leaves the GDR and goes to Düsseldorf where he studies at the Art Academy from 1961 to 1963.
Gerhard Richter paints his pictures after photographs of any kind, which he then reproduces in manifold ways. They are recognizable, due to the realistic style, but they are also concealed or simply drawn over, so that the motif, its content, is obscured, such as in the series "Vermalungen" (Misdrawings). A characteristic feature of Richter's work is the fact that he, up until today, has always taken a deep look into art itself. His works cannot be regarded in categories of "-isms", it is difficult to ascribe them to a certain style, it is rather seen in terms of a stylistic incongruity, thus his oeuvre is extremely complex and diversified.
Richter is chosen as the first single artist to do the German pavilion for the Biennale in Venice in 1972. Numerous further exhibitions both on a national as well as an international level as well as art awards are proof of Richter being one of the most influential and successful contemporary artists. Gerhard Richter lives and works in Cologne.