--- title: "16 Mean Quotes By Gerhard Richter" description: "16 Mean quotes by Gerhard Richter. Plus more from Gerhard Richter and more Mean sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/gerhard-richter-2249_art_as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-o_351011.jpg" --- > [As far as the surface is concerned - oil on canvas, conventionally applied - my pictures have little to do with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-on-canvas-conventionally/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/gerhard-richter-2249_art_as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-o_351011.jpg) > [Family photos, pictures of groups, those are truely wonderful. And they are just as good as the old masters, just as rich…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/family-photos-pictures-of-groups-those-are-truely-wonderful-and-they/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99b/gerhard-richter-2249_art_family-photos-pictures-of-groups-those-a_2904838.jpg) > [Painting is traditional but for me that doesn't mean the academy. I felt a need to paint; I love painting. It was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/painting-is-traditional-but-for-me-that-doesn-t-mean-the-academy-i/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/gerhard-richter-2249_academy_painting-is-traditional-but-for-me-that_265183.jpg) > [I wanted to make it as anonymous as a photo. But it was perhaps also the wish for perfection, the unapproachable, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-wanted-to-make-it-as-anonymous-as-a-photo-but-it-was-perhaps-also/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e0/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-wanted-to-make-it-as-anonymous-as-a-ph_1363637.jpg) > [Composition is a side issue. Its role in my selection of photographs is a negative one at best. By which I mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/composition-is-a-side-issue-its-role-in-my-selection-of-photographs/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_composition-is-a-side-issue-its-role-in_1559694.jpg) > [I don't know what motivated the artist, which means that the paintings have an intrinsic quality. I think Goethe called it the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-don-t-know-what-motivated-the-artist-which-means-that-the-paintings/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dc/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-don-t-know-what-motivated-the-artist-w_2331758.jpg) > [I'm never really sure what that word means, but however inaccurately I use it, 'classical' was always my ideal, as long as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-m-never-really-sure-what-that-word-means-but-however-inaccurately-i/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-m-never-really-sure-what-that-word-mea_1808475.jpg) > [The political topicality of my October paintings means almost nothing to me, but in many reviews it is the first or only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/the-political-topicality-of-my-october-paintings-means-almost-nothing/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b24/gerhard-richter-2249_art_the-political-topicality-of-my-october-p_3017986.jpg) > [To me, grey is the welcome and only possible equivalent for indifference, noncommitment, absence of opinion, absence of shape. But grey, like…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/gerhard-richter-2249_absence_to-me-grey-is-the-welcome-and-only-possi_41737.jpg) > [My landscapes are not only beautiful, or nostalgic, with a Romantic or classical suggestion of lost Paradises, but above all 'untruthful.' By…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/my-landscapes-are-not-only-beautiful-or-nostalgic-with-a-romantic-or-2/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/gerhard-richter-2249_antithesis_my-landscapes-are-not-only-beautiful-or_1016486.jpg) > [Pictures are the idea in visual or pictorial form; and the idea has to be legible, both in the individual picture and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/pictures-are-the-idea-in-visual-or-pictorial-form-and-the-idea-has-to/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90e/gerhard-richter-2249_art_pictures-are-the-idea-in-visual-or-picto_2246037.jpg) > [Art is not a substitute religion: it is a religion (in the true sense of the word: 'binding back', 'binding' to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/art-is-not-a-substitute-religion-it-is-a-religion-in-the-true-sense/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac3/gerhard-richter-2249_adequate_art-is-not-a-substitute-religion-it-is-a_624487.jpg) > [Contact with like-minded painters - a group means a great deal to me: nothing comes in isolation. We have worked out our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/contact-with-like-minded-painters-a-group-means-a-great-deal-to-me/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/458/gerhard-richter-2249_art_contact-with-like-minded-painters-a-grou_1670734.jpg) > [If, while I'm painting, I distort or destroy a motif, it is not a planned or conscious act, but rather it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/if-while-i-m-painting-i-distort-or-destroy-a-motif-it-is-not-a/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cab/gerhard-richter-2249_art_if-while-i-m-painting-i-distort-or-destr_3122063.jpg) > [Suddenly, I saw it in a new way, as a picture that offered me a new view, free of all the conventional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/suddenly-i-saw-it-in-a-new-way-as-a-picture-that-offered-me-a-new/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/632/gerhard-richter-2249_art_suddenly-i-saw-it-in-a-new-way-as-a-pict_3018819.jpg) > [My pictures are devoid of objects; like objects, they are themselves objects. This means that they are devoid of content, significance or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/my-pictures-are-devoid-of-objects-like-objects-they-are-themselves/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c56/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_my-pictures-are-devoid-of-objects-like-o_424138.jpg) ## Other authors on Mean ## 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/mean/gerhard-richter/#itemlist", "name": "16 Mean Quotes By Gerhard Richter", "numberOfItems": 16, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As far as the surface is concerned - oil on canvas, conventionally applied - my pictures have little to do with the original photograph. They are totally painting (whatever that may mean). On the other hand, they are so like the photograph that the thing that distinguished the photograph from all other pictures remains intact.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-on-canvas-conventionally/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/gerhard-richter-2249_art_as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-o_351011.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/gerhard-richter-2249_art_as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-o_351011.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/gerhard-richter-2249_art_as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-o_351011.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As far as the surface is concerned - oil on canvas, conventionally applied - my pictures have little to do…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Family photos, pictures of groups, those are truely wonderful. And they are just as good as the old masters, just as rich and just as beautifully composed (what does that mean anyway).", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/family-photos-pictures-of-groups-those-are-truely-wonderful-and-they/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99b/gerhard-richter-2249_art_family-photos-pictures-of-groups-those-a_2904838.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99b/gerhard-richter-2249_art_family-photos-pictures-of-groups-those-a_2904838.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99b/gerhard-richter-2249_art_family-photos-pictures-of-groups-those-a_2904838.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Family photos, pictures of groups, those are truely wonderful. And they are just as good as the old masters…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Painting is traditional but for me that doesn't mean the academy. I felt a need to paint; I love painting. It was something natural - as is listening to music or playing an instrument for some people. For this reason I searched for themes of my era and my generation. Photography offered this, so I chose it as a medium for painting.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/painting-is-traditional-but-for-me-that-doesn-t-mean-the-academy-i/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/gerhard-richter-2249_academy_painting-is-traditional-but-for-me-that_265183.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/gerhard-richter-2249_academy_painting-is-traditional-but-for-me-that_265183.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/gerhard-richter-2249_academy_painting-is-traditional-but-for-me-that_265183.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Painting is traditional but for me that doesn't mean the academy. I felt a need to paint; I love painting…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I wanted to make it as anonymous as a photo. But it was perhaps also the wish for perfection, the unapproachable, which then means loss of immediacy. Something is missing then, though; that is why I gave that up.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-wanted-to-make-it-as-anonymous-as-a-photo-but-it-was-perhaps-also/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e0/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-wanted-to-make-it-as-anonymous-as-a-ph_1363637.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e0/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-wanted-to-make-it-as-anonymous-as-a-ph_1363637.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e0/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-wanted-to-make-it-as-anonymous-as-a-ph_1363637.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I wanted to make it as anonymous as a photo. But it was perhaps also the wish for perfection, the…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Composition is a side issue. Its role in my selection of photographs is a negative one at best. By which I mean that the fascination of a photograph is not in its eccentric composition but in what it has to say: its information content. And, on the other hand, composition always also has its own fortuitous rightness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/composition-is-a-side-issue-its-role-in-my-selection-of-photographs/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_composition-is-a-side-issue-its-role-in_1559694.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_composition-is-a-side-issue-its-role-in_1559694.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_composition-is-a-side-issue-its-role-in_1559694.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Composition is a side issue. Its role in my selection of photographs is a negative one at best. By which I…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I don't know what motivated the artist, which means that the paintings have an intrinsic quality. I think Goethe called it the 'essential dimension,' the thing that makes great works of art great.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-don-t-know-what-motivated-the-artist-which-means-that-the-paintings/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dc/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-don-t-know-what-motivated-the-artist-w_2331758.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dc/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-don-t-know-what-motivated-the-artist-w_2331758.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dc/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-don-t-know-what-motivated-the-artist-w_2331758.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I don't know what motivated the artist, which means that the paintings have an intrinsic quality. I think…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I'm never really sure what that word means, but however inaccurately I use it, 'classical' was always my ideal, as long as I can remember, and something of that has always stayed with me, to this day. Of course, there were difficulties, because in comparison to my ideal, I didn't even come close.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-m-never-really-sure-what-that-word-means-but-however-inaccurately-i/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-m-never-really-sure-what-that-word-mea_1808475.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-m-never-really-sure-what-that-word-mea_1808475.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/67d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-m-never-really-sure-what-that-word-mea_1808475.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I'm never really sure what that word means, but however inaccurately I use it, 'classical' was always my…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The political topicality of my October paintings means almost nothing to me, but in many reviews it is the first or only thing that arouses interest, and the response to the pictures varies according to current political circumstance. I find this rather a distraction.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/the-political-topicality-of-my-october-paintings-means-almost-nothing/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b24/gerhard-richter-2249_art_the-political-topicality-of-my-october-p_3017986.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b24/gerhard-richter-2249_art_the-political-topicality-of-my-october-p_3017986.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b24/gerhard-richter-2249_art_the-political-topicality-of-my-october-p_3017986.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The political topicality of my October paintings means almost nothing to me, but in many reviews it is the…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To me, grey is the welcome and only possible equivalent for indifference, noncommitment, absence of opinion, absence of shape. But grey, like formlessness and the rest, can be real only as an idea, and so all I can do is create a colour nuance that means grey but is not it. The painting is then a mixture of grey as a fiction and grey as a visible, designated area of colour.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/to-me-grey-is-the-welcome-and-only-possible-equivalent-for/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/gerhard-richter-2249_absence_to-me-grey-is-the-welcome-and-only-possi_41737.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/gerhard-richter-2249_absence_to-me-grey-is-the-welcome-and-only-possi_41737.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/gerhard-richter-2249_absence_to-me-grey-is-the-welcome-and-only-possi_41737.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To me, grey is the welcome and only possible equivalent for indifference, noncommitment, absence of opinion…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My landscapes are not only beautiful, or nostalgic, with a Romantic or classical suggestion of lost Paradises, but above all 'untruthful.' By 'untruthful,' I mean the glorifying way we look at Nature. Nature, which in all its forms is always against us, because it knows no meaning, no pity, no sympathy, because it knows nothing and is absolutely mindless, the total antithesis of ourselves.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/my-landscapes-are-not-only-beautiful-or-nostalgic-with-a-romantic-or-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/gerhard-richter-2249_antithesis_my-landscapes-are-not-only-beautiful-or_1016486.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/gerhard-richter-2249_antithesis_my-landscapes-are-not-only-beautiful-or_1016486.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08f/gerhard-richter-2249_antithesis_my-landscapes-are-not-only-beautiful-or_1016486.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My landscapes are not only beautiful, or nostalgic, with a Romantic or classical suggestion of lost…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Pictures are the idea in visual or pictorial form; and the idea has to be legible, both in the individual picture and in the collective context - which presupposes, of course, that words are used to convey information about the idea and the context. However, none of this means that pictures function as illustrations of an idea: ultimately, they are the idea. Nor is the verbal formulation of the idea a translation of the visual: it simply bears a certain resemblance to the meaning of the idea. It is an interpretation, literally a reflection.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/pictures-are-the-idea-in-visual-or-pictorial-form-and-the-idea-has-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90e/gerhard-richter-2249_art_pictures-are-the-idea-in-visual-or-picto_2246037.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90e/gerhard-richter-2249_art_pictures-are-the-idea-in-visual-or-picto_2246037.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90e/gerhard-richter-2249_art_pictures-are-the-idea-in-visual-or-picto_2246037.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Pictures are the idea in visual or pictorial form; and the idea has to be legible, both in the individual…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Art is not a substitute religion: it is a religion (in the true sense of the word: 'binding back', 'binding' to the unknowable, transcending reason, transcendent being). But the church is no longer adequate as a means of affording experience of the transcendental, and of making religion real - and so art has been transformed from a means into the sole provider of religion: which means religion itself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/art-is-not-a-substitute-religion-it-is-a-religion-in-the-true-sense/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac3/gerhard-richter-2249_adequate_art-is-not-a-substitute-religion-it-is-a_624487.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac3/gerhard-richter-2249_adequate_art-is-not-a-substitute-religion-it-is-a_624487.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac3/gerhard-richter-2249_adequate_art-is-not-a-substitute-religion-it-is-a_624487.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Art is not a substitute religion: it is a religion (in the true sense of the word: 'binding back', 'binding'…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Contact with like-minded painters - a group means a great deal to me: nothing comes in isolation. We have worked out our ideas largely by talking them through. Shutting myself away in the country, for instance, would do nothing for me. One depends on one's surroundings. And so the exchange with other artists - and especially the collaboration with Lueg and Polke - matters a lot to me: it is part of the input that I need.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/contact-with-like-minded-painters-a-group-means-a-great-deal-to-me/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/458/gerhard-richter-2249_art_contact-with-like-minded-painters-a-grou_1670734.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/458/gerhard-richter-2249_art_contact-with-like-minded-painters-a-grou_1670734.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/458/gerhard-richter-2249_art_contact-with-like-minded-painters-a-grou_1670734.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Contact with like-minded painters - a group means a great deal to me: nothing comes in isolation. We have…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If, while I'm painting, I distort or destroy a motif, it is not a planned or conscious act, but rather it has a different justification: I see the motif, the way I painted it, is somehow ugly or unbearable. Then I try to follow my feelings and make it attractive. And that means a process of painting, changing or destroying - for however long it takes - until I think it has improved. And I don't demand an explanation from myself as to why this is so.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/if-while-i-m-painting-i-distort-or-destroy-a-motif-it-is-not-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cab/gerhard-richter-2249_art_if-while-i-m-painting-i-distort-or-destr_3122063.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cab/gerhard-richter-2249_art_if-while-i-m-painting-i-distort-or-destr_3122063.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cab/gerhard-richter-2249_art_if-while-i-m-painting-i-distort-or-destr_3122063.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If, while I'm painting, I distort or destroy a motif, it is not a planned or conscious act, but rather it…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Suddenly, I saw it in a new way, as a picture that offered me a new view, free of all the conventional criteria I had always associated with art. It had no style, no composition, no judgment. It freed me from personal experience. For the first time, there was nothing to it: it was pure picture. That's why I wanted to have it, to show it - not use it as a means to painting but use painting as a means to photography.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/suddenly-i-saw-it-in-a-new-way-as-a-picture-that-offered-me-a-new/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/632/gerhard-richter-2249_art_suddenly-i-saw-it-in-a-new-way-as-a-pict_3018819.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/632/gerhard-richter-2249_art_suddenly-i-saw-it-in-a-new-way-as-a-pict_3018819.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/632/gerhard-richter-2249_art_suddenly-i-saw-it-in-a-new-way-as-a-pict_3018819.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Suddenly, I saw it in a new way, as a picture that offered me a new view, free of all the conventional…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 16, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My pictures are devoid of objects; like objects, they are themselves objects. This means that they are devoid of content, significance or meaning, like objects or trees, animals, people or days, all of which are there without a reason, without a function and without a purpose. This is the quality that counts. Even so, there are good and bad pictures.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/my-pictures-are-devoid-of-objects-like-objects-they-are-themselves/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c56/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_my-pictures-are-devoid-of-objects-like-o_424138.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c56/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_my-pictures-are-devoid-of-objects-like-o_424138.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c56/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_my-pictures-are-devoid-of-objects-like-o_424138.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My pictures are devoid of objects; like objects, they are themselves objects. This means that they are…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/gerhard-richter/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/gerhard-richter/", "name": "Mean Quotes by Gerhard Richter", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/gerhard-richter/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/gerhard-richter-2249_art_as-far-as-the-surface-is-concerned-oil-o_351011.jpg" }, "description": "16 Mean quotes by Gerhard Richter. Plus more from Gerhard Richter and more Mean sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/gerhard-richter/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/gerhard-richter/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Mean", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Gerhard Richter", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/gerhard-richter/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```