Gerhard RichterAbstract Painting (726) 1990

Since 1976 Richter has concentrated on abstraction, developing a series of systematic approaches to making paintings. He began this work with a brightly coloured, predominantly red composition divided vertically into four sections. He then drew paint across the canvas using long batons edged in flexible plastic. By over-painting, scraping and scratching into the surface he destroyed the previous composition and created a new painting. Richter has stated that abstract paintings ‘visualise a reality which we can neither see nor describe but which we may nevertheless conclude to exist’.