Gerhard Richter broke stereotypes: what does the sale of his “192 flowers” mean?

90-year-old artist’s landmark work sold for $20.5 million

The work of 90-year-old German master Gerhard Richter sold at auction in London for 18.3 million pounds ($20.5 million). This is by no means a record for the work of one of the most expensive and influential living artists, but the news caused a strong reaction in the art environment and not only. What is so special about the painting “192 Colors”, why it is discussed no less hotly today than in the 1960s, when it was created, “MK” understood.

The painting “192 Colors” is one of the artist’s first abstract works. It was created in 1966 and marked a new stage in his work. After the German master wrote many more “color tables” – abstractions from multi-colored squares. And later he even created a stained-glass window for the cathedral in Cologne in the same style – from 4900 shades. In the 1960s, Richter’s “color charts” were met with mixed reception and a strong reaction. Many squares of different colors were compared with the system of social organization, where society was divided into cells and a person had to take one of them.

At first, the artist chose colors randomly: he asked his friends to randomly name the colors, and then he systematized them into tables. And in the 1970s, he developed a whole mathematical system for mixing colors and random operations to place them. That is, Richter combined order and chaos and filled them with color content. For the history of art, as for Richter, the work “192 Colors” is a milestone not only because it is the first of its kind. “In it, color acquires autonomy as a pictorial element … Here, color no longer functions as part of a system of denotative chromatic nuances, but at the same time it does not follow the model followed by color theorists and practitioners who once announced the discovery of its scientific accuracy,” famous French art critic Benjamin H.D. wrote about this painting. Booze in 1977.

“Of course, the sale of a work by Gerhard Richter for such an amount is a very good sign for the international market and specifically for the market for works by living artists,” Inna Pulikova, a researcher at the State Institute of Art History, who specializes in studying the art market, tells MK. – Gerhard Richter in the top three most expensive living artists. The current sale is another confirmation of his status and the importance of his work. It is important that this work is a milestone – the abstract period began with it. After the pandemic that hit the global art market, and against the backdrop of the current global economic and political crisis, this is a good sign.

By the way, Sotheby’s called the evening auction of contemporary art, where the sale of Gerhard Richter’s landmark work took place, the most successful since 2015. 90% of the lots were sold at the auction. And even if there were no records (in fact, the painting “192 Colors” sold with a slight excess of the estimate), but the very fact of a lively interest in contemporary art in the current economic realities suggests that the situation on the art market is getting better after the recession.

– In itself, the auction result is nothing sensational – says “MK” art market specialist Vladimir Bogdanov. – 18.3 million pounds (20.5 million dollars) for Richter today is more of a variant of the norm. The artist had sales of $30 million, $40 million, and even more. However, every success of this artist still attracts attention. After all, Richter’s career for many is a beautiful story and a symbol of hope. In this sense, Richter destroys many stereotypes. After all, what do they say? If by the age of 40-50 the paintings did not cost money, then the chances are small. That you can now become famous only if you make outrageous art. That millions for paintings begin to pay only after the death of the artist. And in general, “it’s impossible to fall in love at our age, because you see all the flaws in a person.” And look at Richter … In the late 1980s (Richter was already over 50), galleries could not sell his paintings when they asked for them in the region of $5,000. And after 20 years, the same paintings began to cost millions and tens of millions. Today Richter is in the top 3 living artists. And for this he did not have to depict a sex scene with Cicciolina or fill a shark with formalin. His abstractions and metaphysical still lifes are the development of the ideas of post-war art. And the next 20 million dollars is an additional confirmation that the post-war art market, even in these monstrous times, is firmly on its feet. By the way, it’s the same in Russia. The experience of our auction shows that for all the drama of events, the market for artists of the sixties demonstrates good liquidity. Paintings by Russian contemporaries of Richter – nonconformists Rabin, Neizvestny, Nemukhin, Tselkov, Krasnopevtsev, Belenok, Yankilevsky – are still in high demand among collectors. The audacity of their ideas and the magic of time work on both sides of the border.