Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden in 1932 on February 9. He was the first child of Horst

格哈德-裡希特於 1932 年 2 月 9 日出生於德累斯頓。他是霍斯特-裡希特的第一個孩子。

Richter, who worked as a teacher at the secondary school, and his wife Hildegard, a bookseller who also loved playing the piano. The young Gerhard would welcome his sister four years later into the family which was an average middle-class household. The Richter family moved in 1935 as his father accepted a teaching position at a school in Reichenau, currently known as Bogatynia, Poland. Doing so, the family was largely safe from the war to come in which Horst Richter was called up to join the army. He was eventually detained by the

裡希特是一名中學教師，他的妻子希爾德加德是一名書商，也很喜歡彈鋼琴。四年後，年幼的格哈德迎來了他的妹妹，這個家庭是一個普通的中產階級家庭。1935 年，裡希特一家搬家了，因為他的父親接受了在 Reichenau（即現在的波蘭博加蒂尼亞）的一所學校任教的職位。這樣一來，霍斯特-裡希特（Horst Richter）被徵召入伍，一家人在很大程度上避免了戰爭的來襲。他最終被

Allied forces as a prisoner of war and was only released in 1946. The family relocated once more to Watersdorf, experiencing difficult years due to the lingering effects of the

1946 年才被釋放。他們一家再次搬遷到沃特斯多夫，但由於戰爭的殘餘影響，他們經歷了艱難的歲月。

Second World War in which his father had participated as a Nazi soldier. The war had left a deep impact on the young Gerhard, marked by economic hardship and personal loss. He lost his uncles and aunts in the war and vividly recalls his mother's screaming when they received the horrible news. Gerhard Richter reflects upon this period with a mixture of frustration and fondness. Personally, he experienced the war as a child from a safe distance, but close enough to recall the vast impact of the terrors which happened around him. Richter himself seemed to be a highly gifted child, but a notoriously bad student in school. By the age of 15, Gerhard Richter started to draw on a regular basis, creating landscapes, self-portraits, nudes and more. Genres he would continue to work with throughout his career. In 1947 in

他的父親作為納粹阿兵哥參加了第二次世界大戰。戰爭給年幼的格哈德留下了深刻的影響，經濟上的困難和個人的損失是戰爭的特點。他在戰爭中失去了叔叔和嬸嬸，他清楚地記得母親收到噩耗時的尖叫聲。格哈德-裡希特在回憶這段時期時，既有沮喪，也有眷戀。就他個人而言，作為一個孩子，他在安全的距離之外經歷了那場戰爭，但又近得足以讓他回憶起發生在他周圍的恐怖事件所造成的巨大影響。裡希特本人似乎是個極有天賦的孩子，但在學校卻是個出了名的壞學生。15 歲時，格哈德-裡希特開始經常畫畫，創作風景畫、自畫像、裸體畫等。在他的整個職業生涯

Zittau, he would start taking his first evening classes in painting, while he was not aspiring to become a professional artist yet. From 1948 until 1951, he would study stage and billboard painting, before returning to his birth town Dresden during the summer to start his formal art studies at the Dresden Art Academy.

從 1948 年到 1951 年，他一直在學習舞臺和廣告牌繪畫，然後在夏天回到出生地德累斯頓，在德累斯頓藝術學院開始正式的藝術學習。從 1948 年到 1951 年，他一直在學習舞臺和廣告牌繪畫，然後在夏天回到出生地德累斯頓，在德累斯頓藝術學院開始正式的藝術學習。

Many buildings in Dresden were still in ruins due to the bombing, as they still had to walk through rubble and stones to get from one building to the next. After having lived with his aunt Gretel for a while, he moved into an apartment with some friends in the same street as the apartment of Marianna Oefinger, known as Emma, whom he married in 1957. At the academy, he was trained academically, marked by socialist realism. He joined the department for mural painting, which was a bit less strict. For his thesis, he would paint a mural for the Deutsches Hygienemuseum, which was received very well, resulting in a position in the academy's program for promising students.

德累斯頓的許多建築仍是轟炸後的廢墟，從一棟樓到另一棟樓，他們仍需穿過瓦礫和石塊。在與姑姑格蕾特爾（Gretel）一起生活了一段時間後，他搬到了與瑪麗安娜-奧芬格（Marianna Oefinger，人稱艾瑪）的公寓同一條街上的一些朋友的公寓裡，並於 1957 年與艾瑪結婚。在學院裡，他接受了以社會主義現實主義為標誌的學術訓練。他進入了壁畫系，該系對他的要求並不嚴格。作為畢業論文，他為德國衛生博物館繪製了一幅壁畫，這幅壁畫獲得了很好的反響，他也是以進入了學院的有前途學生項目。

Things seemed to be smooth sailing. He had a studio from the academy, a steady income for three years, and was able to do a number of commissioned murals. However, he felt increasingly uncomfortable within the restrictions of the academy. He did not want to commit fully to socialist realism, but was also critical towards the underground art scene and capitalism.

事情似乎一帆風順。他從學院獲得了一間工作室，有了三年的穩定收入，還能創作一些委託壁畫。然而，在學院的束縛下，他感到越來越不自在。他不想完全投身於社會主義現實主義，但也對地下藝術界和資本主義持批判態度。

He was in search for a so-called third way, including the best of both spheres, between the East and the West. A crucial event for the development of Gerhard

他在東西方之間尋找所謂的第三條道路，其中包括兩個領域的精華。對格哈德的發展至關重要的事件是

Richter was visiting documenta zwei in Kassel in 1959. He was strongly impressed by the works of Jackson Pollock or Lucio Fontana. As if an epiphany, Richter realized the creative prohibitions towards abstraction were wrong, as was his very own way of thinking up to that point. Due to the political situation of the Cold War and Richter's realization, the West offers more when it comes to his artistic endeavors. Gerhard and Ema left the

1959 年，裡希特參觀了卡塞爾的第 2 屆文獻展。傑克遜-波洛克或盧西奧-方塔納的作品給他留下了深刻印象。就像頓悟一樣，裡希特意識到對抽象主義的創作禁止是錯誤的，就像他自己到那時為止的思維方式一樣。由於冷戰的政治局勢和裡希特的覺悟，西方為他的藝術創作提供了更多的機會。格哈德和埃瑪離開了

GDR for West Germany.

GDR 指西德。

Doing so, Gerhard and Ema arrived in Dusseldorf, where Richter started to study at the Dusseldorf Academy.

於是，格哈德和埃瑪來到杜塞爾多夫，裡希特開始在杜塞爾多夫學院學習。

He started out swain, testing everything he could, resulting in a very productive period.

他從斯萬開始，試驗一切他能試驗的東西，結果是一個非常富有成效的時期。

However, afterwards he was unhappy with these works and destroyed many of these paintings, with his true elaborate only starting in 1962. Richter arrived in a vibrant art scene and quickly became friends with, among others, Sigmar Polke, Blinky Palermo and Konrad Fischer, formerly known as Konrad Lübeck. Due to the presence of Josef Beuys as a professor at the Dusseldorf Academy, Richter was also very impressed by Fluxus. They discovered and engaged with American pop art since 1962. During one of their earliest shows, the group of friends, seen as the German pop artists, presented their own movement, titled Capitalist

然而，之後他對這些作品並不滿意，並銷燬了其中的許多畫作，直到 1962 年才開始真正精心創作。裡希特來到了一個充滿活力的藝術圈，並很快與西格瑪-波爾克、布林基-巴勒莫和康拉德-菲舍爾（原名康拉德-呂貝克）等人成為朋友。由於約瑟夫-博伊斯（Josef Beuys）是杜塞爾多夫學院的教授，裡希特也對激浪派留下了深刻印象。他們從 1962 年開始發現並接觸美國波普藝術。在他們最早的一次展覽中，這群被視為德國波普藝術家的朋友們展示了他們自己的運動，名為 "資本主義"（Capitalist

Realism, and with reference to Socialist Realism, but also a label Richter wasn't too satisfied about. Richter was interested in current affairs, consumer society, new media and popular culture. He incorporated these elements into his painterly practice, depicting for instance televisions, design magazines, advertisements or political figures and events. This was the genesis of Richter's professional oeuvre, and photography was the starting point, something which used to be impossible with his academic background. He combined photography with his characteristic blurred effect, and immediately started to examine the relationship between both media, photography and painting, a true pillar within his artistic practice. The German artist was interested and fascinated by the dialectic relation between the objectivity and the subjectivity when painting photographs. For Richter, the photograph was the most perfect picture. He could eliminate conscious thinking, as the picture does not change, it is absolute, autonomous, unconditional and not linked to any style. With his blurred effect, he made everything equal, equally important and simultaneously equally unimportant. He was strongly drawn to depicting certain subjects from found photographic material. Think of military subjects, family portraits, images from newspapers or magazines. These selected images all have their very own narrative and motive to be painted, most often combining death or suffering, and its exploitation of death and suffering in media. From 1963 until 1964, Richter had his first exhibitions and commercial successes, collaborating with several galleries, and also collectors were starting to get really interested in his work and career. A landmark year for Gerhard Richter was 1966, for many reasons. The first, the birth of his daughter, Betty, whom he iconically painted in 1988. He also painted his wife

現實主義"，並參考了 "社會主義現實主義"，但這也是裡希特不太滿意的標籤。裡希特對時事、消費社會、新媒體和大眾文化很感興趣。他將這些元素融入自己的繪畫實踐中，例如描繪電視、設計雜誌、廣告或政治人物和事件。這就是裡希特專業創作的起源，而攝影則是他的起點，這在他的學術背景下是不可能實現的。他將攝影與他特有的模糊效果相結合，並立即開始研究攝影和繪畫這兩種媒介之間的關係，這是他藝術實踐中的真正支柱。這位德國藝術家對繪畫照片時客觀性和主觀性之間的辯證關係非常感興趣，併為之著迷。對裡希特來說，照片是最完美的圖畫。他可

Emma, nude on a staircase, one of his most famous works he ever painted, and he took on geometric abstraction with his colour chart, influenced by his friend Blinky Palermo, but also influenced by pop art and minimal art. Richter had already been experimenting with abstraction and minimal painting, think of the abstracted blur or washed out zones of oil paint, but also depicting very minimal elements, such as curtains, tubes, turning sheets or daily objects. The colour charts were copies of paint sample cards, which paved the way for Richter's future abstract paintings. After Emma, nude on a staircase, Richter would paint several erotic nudes in 1967, followed by cityscapes, aerial views, mountains, starscapes, clouds, seascapes and landscapes in 1968 and 1969. With these artworks, there is this notion of both an almost nostalgic romanticism and an ongoing exploration of abstraction. He would paint many shadow pictures, corrugated iron as a geometric abstract work, grey monochromes, colour streaks and grit, arriving at pure abstraction and questioning the limits of representation. By the end of the decade, Richter had established himself as a contemporary artist, participating in group exhibitions across the globe. In 1969, he was included in the exhibition Nine Young Artists at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, his first show at a major institution. However, Richter was still unsure about his future and in search for a specific direction, so his paints and the experiments would continue.

受朋友布林基-巴勒莫（Blinky Palermo）的影響，同時也受到波普藝術和極簡藝術的影響，裡希特開始用色彩圖表現幾何抽象。當時，裡希特已經開始嘗試抽象和極簡繪畫，比如油畫顏料中抽象化的模糊或沖淡區域，以及描繪非常簡約的元素，如窗簾、管子、翻轉的床單或日常物品。色彩圖是顏料樣本卡的複製品，這為裡希特未來的抽象繪畫鋪平了道路。繼《樓梯上的裸體艾瑪》之後，裡希特在 1967 年又創作了多幅色情裸體畫，隨後在 1968 年和 1969 年又創作了城市風景、鳥瞰、山景、星空、雲彩、海景和風景畫。在這些作品中，

With his career on the rise, Richter was exhibiting with his good friend Conrad Fischer, who became a very progressive gallerist, showcasing the top artists of minimal art, conceptual art and formalism. Think of Karl André, Sol Lewitt, Bruce Nauman, Fred Sambach, On Kawara or Richard Long. In this context, Richter felt much more at home with painting, allowing the artist to take on painting outside of its tradition, questioning it as no other artist had done before. During the first years of this decade, Richter painted many portraits, of which a specific series of 48 portraits would be showcased at the 36th Venice Biennale in 1972, followed by participating in Documenta V in Kassel.

裡希特的事業正處於上升期，他與好友康拉德-費舍爾（Conrad Fischer）合作舉辦展覽，後者成為一位非常前衛的畫廊主，展示極簡藝術、概念藝術和形式主義的頂級藝術家作品。卡爾-安德烈（Karl André）、索爾-盧伊特（Sol Lewitt）、布魯斯-瑙曼（Bruce Nauman）、弗雷德-桑巴奇（Fred Sambach）、安川原（On Kawara）或理查德-朗（Richard Long）就是其中的代表。在這樣的背景下，裡希特對繪畫有了更自在的感覺，他可以跳出傳統繪畫的束縛，對繪畫提出前所未有

But he would also continue to create grid paintings and especially grey monochrome paintings.

但他也會繼續創作網格畫，尤其是灰色單色畫。

These experiments brought him to his formalum or in-paintings, in which he continued to examine the relation between representation and abstraction. What started as a representational painting was being reworked in such a manner, the imagery was entirely obliterated, using gestural brushstrokes and thick impastos. Uniquely, Richter made these gestural brushstrokes without being expressive, pulling the paint across the canvas in an emotionless manner, involving expression as an impelling force of painting. Doing so, Richter emphasised the painterly gesture, a witness of Richter's engagement towards the abstract as a counter-model of the figurative, coming to terms with the new possibilities for painting offered by abstraction and minimalism. Furthermore, from a personal perspective, the 1970s were not the happiest of years for Gerhard Richter, as his marriage with Emma was gradually coming to an end, and he lost his very dear friend Blinke Palermo unexpectedly in 1976. As a result, his grey paintings, but also his figurative works, think of his seascapes in particular, are embedded with a deep melancholy.

這些實驗將他帶入了他的 "形式畫"（formalum）或 "內畫"（in-paintings）中，在這些作品中，他繼續審視表象與抽象之間的關係。最初的表現性繪畫被重新加工，意象被完全抹去，他使用的是手勢筆觸和厚重的 "impastos"。與眾不同的是，裡希特在使用這些手勢筆觸時並不刻意表現，而是以一種毫無感情的方式將顏料拉過畫布，將表達作為繪畫的一種推動力。這樣，裡希特強調了繪畫的姿態，見證了裡希特將抽象畫作為具象畫的反面教材，開始接受抽象畫和極簡主義為繪畫帶來的新的可能性。此外，從個人角度來看，1970

In 1977, Richter took on new directions, creating two sculptural pieces using glass, something he would develop further in the future, but also introducing colourful abstract works, referred to as abstractive bild or abstract painting. A new investigation of perception, colour light, space depth and optics emerged, and as Richter formally separated from Emma in 1979, a decade which was dominated by grey ended with colour and marked a new chapter in the life and oeuvre of Gerhard Richter.

1977 年，裡希特開始了新的創作方向，他用玻璃創作了兩件雕塑作品，這是他今後進一步發展的方向，同時他還推出了色彩豐富的抽象作品，被稱為 abstractive bild 或 abstract painting。1979年，裡希特正式與艾瑪分手，以灰色為主的十年以色彩結束，標誌著格哈德-裡希特的生活和作品翻開了新的篇章。

The following decade, Richter's fame would rise to astronomical heights. The general interest in painting was strongly being reinvigorated, think of the arrival of New Expressionism for instance, and Richter was seen by many as the forerunner of this revival of painting.

在接下來的十年中，裡希特的聲望如日中天。當時，人們對繪畫的興趣被重新激發出來，比如新表現主義的出現，裡希特被許多人視為繪畫復興的先驅。

Gerhard Richter got together with Isa Genzken, one of the most important sculptors of the contemporary era, as they got married in 1982. They would move to a new and larger studio offered by Richter's gallerist Rudolf Swerner in Cologne. At this very moment, he was really getting into his stride with his abstract paintings. With his abstract paintings being very successful, there was somewhat a question mark next to his figurative paintings. However, at this point in time, he painted his iconic candles during the first half of the decade, but also new landscapes in a very close dialogue with his abstract works, indicating the close alignment of both spheres in Richter's oeuvre. Even more, during the second half of the 1980s,

格哈德-裡希特（Gerhard Richter）與當代最重要的雕塑家之一伊薩-根茲肯（Isa Genzken）於 1982 年結婚。他們搬到了裡希特的畫廊主魯道夫-施維爾納（Rudolf Swerner）在科隆提供的一個更大的新工作室。此時此刻，他的抽象畫創作才真正步入正軌。由於他的抽象畫獲得了巨大成功，他的具象畫在某種程度上被打上了問號。然而，在這一時期，他不僅在上半葉創作了標誌性的蠟燭畫，還創作了與抽象畫密切對話的新風景畫，這表明裡希特的創作中兩個領域緊密結合在一起。在 20 世紀 80 年代後半期，

Richter would create stunning field and meadow pieces, followed by his famous and notorious

裡希特創作了令人驚歎的田野和草地作品，隨後又創作了著名的、聲名狼藉的

Badermannhof pictures, one of his most controversial theories, discussing a group of radicals in

巴德曼霍夫圖片》是他最具爭議性的理論之一，討論的是一群激進分子在 "巴德曼霍夫 "的生活。

Germany and terrorist attacks in the 1970s, a topic which was Richter's most provocative and politically charged body of work up to this day. His abstract works developed towards his characteristic technique using a large squeegee instead of a paintbrush, pushing the colour across the surface, creating new depths, textures and contrasts. The variety of his oeuvre could easily have been a pitfall for Richter's career, but in the end, it was his greatest strength. During the 1980s, and in particular by the end of the decade, Richter achieved true international recognition. In 1985, he received the Oskar Kokoschka Prize and had his first major retrospective, and by the turn of the decade, he was being represented by industry-leading galleries, such as Marion Goodman in New York, or Anthony Dauphine in London.

在 20 世紀 70 年代，裡希特創作了《德國和恐怖襲擊》，這是裡希特至今最具挑釁性和政治色彩的作品。他的抽象作品逐漸形成了自己獨特的技法，即用大刮刀代替畫筆，將色彩推過表面，創造出新的深度、質感和對比。他作品的多樣性很容易成為裡希特職業生涯的一個陷阱，但最終卻成為他最大的優勢。20 世紀 80 年代，尤其是到了 80 年代末，裡希特獲得了真正的國際認可。1985 年，他獲得了奧斯卡-科科什卡獎，並舉辦了自己的首次大型回顧展。到了十年之交，紐約的瑪麗安-古德曼或倫敦的安東尼-多芬等業界領先的畫廊都開始代理

The 1990s would be filled with one-man shows, awards and recognitions. He started the decade strongly committed to his abstract paintings, and would also continue to experiment with mirrors and glass, a result of his ongoing interest in minimal abstraction. The intersection of both was also noticeable in his abstract painterly practice, with structures and minimal abstraction, using stripes and grids as another chapter in his painterly research. With Richter, his personal life is often reflected in his work. In 1993, he painted a series of works of his wife Isa Gensgen, with her back faced to the artist, as if a certain detachment is being suggested. Shortly after, they would go their separate ways. Richter met Sabine

20 世紀 90 年代，他舉辦了多次個人畫展，並獲得了各種獎項和認可。在這十年間，他堅定地致力於抽象繪畫，並繼續嘗試使用鏡子和玻璃，這也是他對極簡抽象一直感興趣的結果。在他的抽象繪畫實踐中，結構和極簡抽象這兩者的交集也很明顯，條紋和網格是他繪畫研究的另一個篇章。在裡希特那裡，他的個人生活常常反映在他的作品中。1993 年，他為妻子伊薩-根斯根（Isa Gensgen）創作了一系列作品，她背對著藝術家，似乎在暗示某種疏離感。不久之後，他們分道揚鑣。裡希特遇到了薩賓

Moritz, another contemporary artist, and got married shortly after his divorce. In 1995, they had a son named Moritz, followed by a series of paintings of mother and child, once again utmost personal and intimate, hence its power. The family moved to a new home in the south of Cologne, and in 1996, they would welcome their daughter, Ella Maria.

他與另一位當代藝術家莫里茨離婚後不久便結了婚。1995 年，他們有了一個兒子，取名為莫里茨，隨後創作了一系列母子畫作，再次將個人化和私密性發揮到極致，是以具有強大的感染力。1996 年，他們搬到了科隆南部的新家，迎來了女兒艾拉-瑪麗亞。

The German artist would continue to produce predominantly abstract works, as it came very natural to him. He also discovered a new genre in the 1990s, which was his overpainted photographs.

這位德國藝術家繼續創作以抽象畫為主的作品，因為這對他來說非常自然。20 世紀 90 年代，他還發現了一種新的藝術流派，那就是他的油畫攝影作品。

Doing so, once more, he negotiated with languages of figuration, abstraction, and of course, the photograph.

在此過程中，他再次與具象語言、抽象語言，當然還有攝影語言進行了協商。

During the 21st century, Richter would continue to gather awards, honours and retrospectives, becoming the most famous painter today, and arguably the most famous living artist today.

在 21 世紀，裡希特不斷獲得各種獎項、榮譽和回顧展，成為當今最著名的畫家，也可以說是當今最著名的在世藝術家。

He started the new millennium with a major retrospective in 2002 at the Museum of Modern

新千年伊始，他於 2002 年在現代博物館舉辦了大型回顧展。

Art, MoMA, in New York. The title was Gerhard Richter, Forty Years of Painting, showcasing 190 works, which is, up to this date, his most comprehensive retrospective. He continued to focus on his abstract paintings, followed by some figurative works and experimentations with glass. In 2005, he painted September, depicting the attacks on the World Trade Center in a way only Richter could do. A small painting, but filled with power. In 2006, the artist would paint his famous Cage paintings, six monumental canvases, titled after John Cage, acquired by Tate Modern in 2008, which are currently on display up to this very day.

在紐約現代藝術博物館舉辦。展覽名為 "格哈德-裡希特，繪畫四十年"，共展出 190 件作品，是迄今為止他最全面的回顧展。他繼續專注於抽象繪畫，隨後創作了一些具象作品，並嘗試用玻璃進行創作。2005 年，他創作了《九月》，以裡希特獨有的方式描繪了世貿中心遇襲事件。畫作雖小，卻充滿力量。2006 年，藝術家創作了著名的《凱奇》油畫，六幅不朽的油畫以約翰-凱奇的名字命名，2008 年被泰特現代美術館收購，至今仍在展出。

In 2007, Richter completed his commission for a new stained-glass window for the Cologne

2007 年，裡希特完成了為科隆大教堂製作新彩色玻璃窗的任務。

Cathedral, inspired by his 1974 painting titled 4094 Colors. In the following year, the German painter started his series of colourful abstract works titled Sinbad. From 2011 and onwards,

大教堂，靈感來自他 1974 年創作的名為《4094 種顏色》的畫作。次年，這位德國畫家開始創作名為 "辛巴達 "的彩色抽象作品系列。從 2011 年起、

Richter would also experiment with the use of technology and digital prints. Think of his horizontal bounds of colour, titled Strips. Since 2010, one could argue, Richter reached the peak of the art world. Amazingly, the artist continues to consolidate his position, finding new directions with his practice year to year. Gerhard Richter is undoubtedly one of the most successful and most influential artists of his generation. So in the end, it was the painting who took a young boy from Dresden by the hand, to become a highly established artist travelling the world. This was the story of Gerhard Richter.

裡希特還嘗試使用技術和數碼印刷。想想他的名為《條紋》（Strips）的橫向色彩界限吧。可以說，自 2010 年以來，裡希特達到了藝術世界的頂峰。令人驚歎的是，這位藝術家仍在不斷鞏固自己的地位，年復一年地在實踐中尋找新的方向。格哈德-裡希特無疑是他這一代人中最成功、最具影響力的藝術家之一。是以，最終是這幅畫牽著一個德累斯頓小男孩的手，讓他成為了一位享譽世界的藝術家。這就是格哈德-裡希特的故事。