--- title: "4 Abstraction Quotes By Gerhard Richter" description: "4 Abstraction quotes by Gerhard Richter. Plus more from Gerhard Richter and more Abstraction sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f11/gerhard-richter-2249_abstraction_when-i-paint-from-a-photograph-conscious_612663.jpg" --- > [When I paint from a photograph, conscious thinking is eliminated. I don't know what I am doing. My work is far closer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/when-i-paint-from-a-photograph-conscious-thinking-is-eliminated-i-don/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f11/gerhard-richter-2249_abstraction_when-i-paint-from-a-photograph-conscious_612663.jpg) > [... landscapes or still-lifes I paint in between the abstract works; they constitute about one-tenth of my production. On the one hand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/landscapes-or-still-lifes-i-paint-in-between-the-abstract-works-they/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/gerhard-richter-2249_abstract_landscapes-or-still-lifes-i-paint-in-bet_1848162.jpg) > [Abstract pictures are fictive models, because they make visible a reality that we can neither see nor describe, but whose existence we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/abstract-pictures-are-fictive-models-because-they-make-visible-a/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e73/gerhard-richter-2249_abstract_abstract-pictures-are-fictive-models-bec_2547115.jpg) > [I started doing 'figures', then, one day, all of a sudden, I started doing abstraction. And then I started doing both. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-started-doing-figures-then-one-day-all-of-a-sudden-i-started-doing/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8f/gerhard-richter-2249_abstraction_i-started-doing-figures-then-one-day-all_3020562.jpg) ## Other authors on Abstraction - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-paul-gauguin-73925.jpg) Paul Gauguin 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/paul-gauguin/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-alfred-north-whitehead-11331.jpg) Alfred North Whitehead 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/alfred-north-whitehead/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-william-james-95592.jpg) William James 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/william-james/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-william-hazlitt-95511.jpg) William Hazlitt 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/william-hazlitt/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-arnon-goldfinger-14779.jpg) Piet Mondrian 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/piet-mondrian/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-jerry-saltz-49147.jpg) Jerry Saltz 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/jerry-saltz/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b012/author-jean-baudrillard-47950.jpg) Jean Baudrillard 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/jean-baudrillard/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-herbert-marcuse-41824.jpg) Herbert Marcuse 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/herbert-marcuse/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-fulton-j-sheen-36488.jpg) Fulton J. Sheen 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/fulton-j-sheen/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-aldous-huxley-10635.jpg) Aldous Huxley 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/aldous-huxley/) ## More by Gerhard Richter > [Art shows us how to see things that are constructive and good, and to be an active part of that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/art-shows-us-how-to-see-things-that-are-constructive-and-good-and-to/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [They are specific places I have discovered here and there when I am on the road to take photos. I go especially to take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/they-are-specific-places-i-have-discovered-here-and-there-when-i-am/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [To me, grey is the welcome and only possible equivalent for indifference, noncommitment, absence of opinion, absence of shape. But grey, like formlessness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/to-me-grey-is-the-welcome-and-only-possible-equivalent-for/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [Now that we do not have priests and philosophers any more, artists are the most important people in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/now-that-we-do-not-have-priests-and-philosophers-any-more-artists-are/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [Yes, we were amazed when that happened. It was a real joke to us. Konrad Lueg and I did a Happening, and we used…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/yes-we-were-amazed-when-that-happened-it-was-a-real-joke-to-us-konrad/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [A work of art is itself an object, first of all, and so manipulation is unavoidable: it's a prerequisite. But I needed the greater…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/a-work-of-art-is-itself-an-object-first-of-all-and-so-manipulation-is/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [The photograph is the only picture that can truly convey information, even if it is technically faulty and the object can barely be identified.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/the-photograph-is-the-only-picture-that-can-truly-convey-information/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [Perhaps the choice is a negative one, in that I was trying to avoid everything that touched on well-known issues - or any issues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/perhaps-the-choice-is-a-negative-one-in-that-i-was-trying-to-avoid/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [Gray is the color... the most important of all... absent of opinion, nothing, neither/nor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/gray-is-the-color-the-most-important-of-all-absent-of-opinion-nothing/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [All photographs are far more important than any painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/all-photographs-are-far-more-important-than-any-painting/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [You can compare it to dreams: you have a very specific and individual pictorial language that you either accept or that you can translate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/you-can-compare-it-to-dreams-you-have-a-very-specific-and-individual/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [What attracted me about my mirrors was the idea of having nothing manipulated in them. A piece of bought mirror. Just hung there, without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/what-attracted-me-about-my-mirrors-was-the-idea-of-having-nothing/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [But it is also untrue that I have nothing specific in mind. As with my landscapes: I see countless landscapes, photograph barely 1 in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/but-it-is-also-untrue-that-i-have-nothing-specific-in-mind-as-with-my/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [My landscapes are not only beautiful or nostalgic, with a Romantic or classical suggestion of lost Paradises, but above all 'untruthful'...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/my-landscapes-are-not-only-beautiful-or-nostalgic-with-a-romantic-or/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [I have always been structured. What has changed is the proportions. Now it is eight hours of paperwork and one of painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-have-always-been-structured-what-has-changed-is-the-proportions-now/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/gerhard-richter/#itemlist", "name": "4 Abstraction Quotes By Gerhard Richter", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When I paint from a photograph, conscious thinking is eliminated. I don't know what I am doing. My work is far closer to the Informel than to any kind of 'realism'. 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