Atlas is an ongoing, encyclopedic work composed of approximately 4,000 photographs, reproductions or cut-out details of photographs and illustrations, grouped together on approximately 600 separate panels. The images closely parallel, year by year, the subjects of Richter's paintings, revealing the orderly but open-ended analysis central to his art.

Artist Biography

Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden in 1932. He studied at the Kunstakademie in Dresden between 1951 and 1956 before moving to Düsseldorf in 1961. Over the next two years he completed his studies at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, where he has been Professor since 1971. In addition to participating widely in group shows, Richter has had numerous one-person exhibitions. In 1993-94, the fourth major retrospective of his work to date traveled throughout Europe.