Lot 642 D

"'Abstract pictures are fictitious models because they illustrate a reality that we can neither see nor describe, but the existence of which we can infer.' Richter wouldn't be Richter if this remark could be read as a carefree promise of transcendence. It deals with the performance power of the picture which lies neither in the transmission of cheerful messages nor in the meaningful acts of painting. Illustration does not mean comprehensibility as this is immediately suspected of ideology. Unavailability is the promise that a painting should give even under the conditions of its marketability." (Beate Söntgen, Arbeit am Bild, Gerhard Richters Diskretion, in: Ulrich Wilmes (ed.), Gerhard Richter, Abstrakte Bilder, exhib.cat. Museum Ludwig et al., Cologne 2009, p.38)