24-3-86

1986 · Drawing and Watercolor

May one see it?

Not receiving at present

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 3 days ago
In this state since: Aug 19, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

By applying pigment to the surface of a photograph, Gerhard Richter questions the objective reality that it seems to document. Through strokes of paint, we see glimpses of the view lying underneath and recognize the rhythmic pattern of a rippling water surface. However, the acrylic paint interferes with our perception of an illusory three-dimensional space. The painterly, multicolored impasto, juxtaposed against the smooth, finished, monochromatic image, draws attention to the photograph as a two-dimensional reproduction, stressing the photograph's artifice.

Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0

Particulars

Accession number: 1989.23

In the catalog

Drawings & watercolors Oil Contemporary art 20th century Germany

Sources

Art Institute of Chicago
Image: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder

Meanwhile, in the life of Gerhard Richter

The whole life

1985
Marian Goodman becomes his main dealer
From 1985 to 2022 Richter’s primary dealer and representative gallery is Marian Goodman; in the years after 1972 he had shown with Galerie Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf and Sperone Westwater in New York.
1985
The Oskar Kokoschka Prize
In 1985 Richter receives the Oskar Kokoschka Prize; from then on, the article says, his works can be found in all the world’s major exhibition spaces.
1986
A travelling retrospective at Düsseldorf’s Kunsthalle
In 1986 a travelling retrospective of Richter opens at the Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf.
12 June 1987 – 20 September 1987
Exhibition: documenta 8
1988
His painting on the cover of “Daydream Nation”
In 1988 Sonic Youth use a painting of Richter’s for the cover of their album “Daydream Nation”; he was a fan of the band and did not charge for the use of his image. The original is now showcased in Sonic Youth’s studio in New York.