For staunch lovers of visual arts, Gerhard Richter needs no introduction. Today, he is known all over the world as one of the most talented contemporary German artists of all time. However, his early years were characterized by different forms of frustration and war. Notwithstanding Gerhard overcame the many troubles that life brought his way and used the lessons learned to produce dozens of abstract and photorealistic paintings, photographs, and glass pieces that he is now known for.
Additionally, Gerhard has made a fortune from the auction of his paintings. His auction record currently stands at US$46.3 for his 1986 Abstraktes Bild (599).
Brief Biography of Gerhard Richter
Richter was born on February 9, 1932, in Dresden, Germany and he is currently 92 years old. He was born as the first child of his parents, Ernst Alfred Schönfelder (father) and Hildegard Schönfelder (mother). His father was a school teacher as well as a very skillful and talented pianist.
Although Gerhard was born in Dresden, he was raised alongside his younger sister Gisela in Reichenau (now Bogatynia, Poland), and Waltersdorf.
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Did You Know These Facts About Gerhard Richter
1. Richter was born a Year Before Adolf Hitler came to Power and Grew up Under the Shadow of Nazism
As earlier stated, Gerhard Richter was born in 1932 and this was just a year before German dictator, Adolf Hitler came to power. With the rise of Hitler’s dictatorship in 1933, Richeter’s father was conscripted into the German army and later detained by the Allied forces and released in 1946, after Germany’s defeat.
Meanwhile, Richter and his family faced difficulties due to the effects of the war. He has also said that war affected his family’s relationship because it alienated them from each other. According to him, the war claimed the lives of many of his relatives and this was not a good thing to see.
2. He Joined the ‘Pimpfen’ when He Turned 10
In the year 1942, Gerhard Richter had to join the ‘Pimpfen’, a mandatory organization for children that prepared them for the Hitler Youth. In Nazi Germany, Pimpfen was a term referring to a member of the Deutsches Jungvolk – the junior section of the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany, for boys between the ages of 10 to 14. The boys were taught to be loyal to Hitler and his regime. Membership in the Hitler Youth was highly encouraged from the mid to late 1930s. However, it was made mandatory in the year 1939.
2. Gerhard Richter Used to Perform Poorly in School
Richter began his early education in a Grammar school in Zittau but had to drop out because his performance was very poor. Although he would later be regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists, his grades in all the subjects he took including arts were poor in his childhood.
As a result of his poor performance, Richter ended up attending a vocational school. He served as an apprentice painter for two years and moved on to enroll at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1951. While he was in the institution, he was taught by several talented arts teachers including prominent German art critic and historian Will Grohmann.
After several years of learning under great talents, Richter started painting officially in 1962 and began exhibiting in Düsseldorf in 1963. Also, he had his first gallery solo show in 1964 at Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf.
But before the official takeoff of his career, he did several paintings like the wall painting Communion with Picasso in 1955. This was for the refectory of his Academy of Arts. It was also a part of his B.A.
4. A Look at His Best Works and Recognition
Since the early 1990s, Gerhard’s paintings have drawn some of the highest prices for pieces by a living artist in the world. He is also reckoned for his works in other media including photographs and glass sculpture.
The artist has influenced several other artists within and outside Germany through his works, books, and teachings.
Widely regarded as the world’s best living painter, and the most expensive living German artist, Richter set a record for the highest price for a piece by a living artist when his work, Abstraktes Bild (809-4) sold for $46.3 million in February 2015. This is in addition to many of his works that have sold out for thousands and millions of dollars at auctions.
Meanwhile, his record was broken on 12 November 2013 when Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog (Orange), was sold at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York City for US$58.4 million.
5. He Has Been Married 3 Times
Richter has been married 3 times. His first union was with Marianne Eufinger in 1957. The pair had one daughter together before their separation in 1979. With the waning of his first marriage, Richter began a relationship with a fellow artist and sculptor, Isa Genzken. According to sources, they first met in the early 1970s but did not start a relationship until some years later.
Richter and Isa tied the knot in 1982 and decided to move to Cologne the following year. Unfortunately, their marriage ended in the year 1993. After that, the German visual artist moved on with Sabine Moritz in 1995 with whom he shares three kids; 2 sons and a daughter.
