Gerhard Richter , Abstraktes Bild (940-7), 2015
Estimate: HK$75,000,000-95,000,000 (US$9,620,000-12,180,000)
Lot 13, 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, June 8
Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Turner, Picasso, Monet, Rothko — ever since the concept of a hierarchy in art genres was established by the great European academies in the 16th century, only few have succeeded in leaving behind legacies so influential that they have revolutionized the course of art history. Gerhard Richter is, without a doubt, another artist to add to that list.
With an astoundingly vast and versatile body of work that spans over half a century, Richter is one of the most celebrated living artists. Around 40% of his work is housed in museum collections around the world. Owning a Richter is akin to owning a part of art history.
Firmly placed within the highest tier of his most prized series, Abstraktes Bild (940-7) stands as the ultimate culmination of Richter’s career-long investigation into the formal possibilities of painting. His Abstraktes Bild series is one of the most extensive inquiries into the bounds of painterly abstraction ever produced.
Charlotte Raybaud, our head of evening sale in Hong Kong, and Prof. Derek Collins, dean of the faculty of arts at the University of Hong Kong, break down the elements of this piece and what makes Richter such a monumental figure in 20th century and contemporary art.