The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris hosts a major retrospective of the German artist Gerhard Richter (until March 2, 2026). The exhibition brings together many of Richterś iconic figurative images —based on photographs— along with his complex abstractions. The exhibition documents approximately six decades of the artist’s career. Richter’s eclectic work is rich in varied media ranging from his famous reproductions of banal and historic photography to glass panes to huge abstract paintings to stained glass church windows.
Richter was born in Dresden in 1932, and grew up during the Second World War. His formative years were spent in Soviet East Germany, where he received a classical training as a mural painter at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. In 1961, Richter and his wife fled to the West, settling in Dusseldorf.
The exhibition opens with his early photo realist work based on photographs clipped from newspapers and magazines proceeding chronologically illustrating the artist’s diverse scope, styles, subjects and themes. Richter (at 93) is considered among the top living contemporary artists. His “Abstrakts Bild” (1986) sold at auction in 2015 for $46.3 million.
Gerhard Richter, to March 2, 2026, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.