This is Germany's most comprehensive exhibition of Gerhard Richter's work in over a decade. Featuring more than 130 pieces, it traces the complete arc of the 92-year-old artist's practice—from his earliest experiments in the early 1960s through his most recent works. The exhibition shines a spotlight on the Rhineland, the region where Richter's artistic vision truly flourished following his 1961 move from Dresden. There, he found kindred spirits in artists like Sigmar Polke and Günther Uecker, encountered influential figures and provocateurs such as Joseph Beuys, and discovered a vibrant, forward-thinking collector community that had coalesced around the emerging gallery scenes in Düsseldorf and Cologne.

Many of these works—presented publicly for the first time—were acquired by passionate collectors and, increasingly since the 1980s, by major corporations, sometimes exchanged with fellow artists. Over the decades, numerous pieces have passed into the hands of a younger generation that actively sustains the region's collecting tradition today. The exhibition emphasizes painting: more than 70 canvases guide visitors on a journey from Richter's earliest black-and-white photographs and austere color charts through his grey paintings, monumental landscapes, and soft abstract works, concluding with his final non-representational paintings from 2017.

Drawings, watercolors, photographs, and sculptures—alongside the only artist film Richter ever made—underscore the remarkable depth of Rhineland collections and establish the exhibition's truly retrospective scope. The show is curated by Richter scholar Markus Heinzelmann, Professor of Museum Practice at Ruhr University Bochum, in collaboration with the Gerhard Richter Archive.

Gerhard Richter: Hidden Treasures

September 5, 2024 – February 28, 2025. Museum Kunstpalast

www.kunstpalast.de