Richter Gerhard is a German artist. He is known for his abstract and realistic paintings, his photography and glasswork. His work, joined with that of fellow artists of his early years, such as Sigmar Polke and Georg Baselitz served to pioneer the movement know as New European Painting. This art movement sought to create expressions of survival, memories, emotions and the stuff of life after World War II. Gerhard’s own work was also influenced by Jean Arp and Picasso, in that he believed that artists should not be constrained to a single style. Richter Gerhard identifies himself in his writings as a surrealist. His art strives to represent the world through painting, and considers photographs as the most perfect form of pictures. Richter Gerhard often uses black and white photographs as subjects for his own art pieces. He projects the photographic image onto his canvas, traces its form exactly, and then uses a palette of paint colors that replicate those in the photograph.

Richter Gerhard’s painting uses a trademark blur technique which he said were used to make things in his paintings equally important and unimportant. Gerhard’s painting Abstraktes Bilt was the first to set a record at auction for the highest bid ever made on a painting by a living artist. Richter Gerhard also had two subsequent auction sales which topped this record, each in the millions of dollars.