--- title: "17 Photograph Quotes By Gerhard Richter" description: "17 Photograph quotes by Gerhard Richter. Plus more from Gerhard Richter and more Photograph sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg" --- > [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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg) > [To make a photograph is already the first artificial act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/to-make-a-photograph-is-already-the-first-artificial-act/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/514/gerhard-richter-2249_artificial_to-make-a-photograph-is-already-the-firs_987188.jpg) > [I like everything that has no style: dictionaries, photographs, nature, myself and my paintings. (Because style is violent, and I am not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-like-everything-that-has-no-style-dictionaries-photographs-nature/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/904/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-like-everything-that-has-no-style-dict_2441808.jpg) > [The photograph is the most perfect picture. It does not change; it is absolute, and therefore autonomous, unconditional, devoid of style. Both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/the-photograph-is-the-most-perfect-picture-it-does-not-change-it-is/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/572/gerhard-richter-2249_absolutes_the-photograph-is-the-most-perfect-pictu_1183987.jpg) > [When we describe a process, or make out an invoice, or photograph a tree, we create models; without them we would know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/when-we-describe-a-process-or-make-out-an-invoice-or-photograph-a/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db3/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_when-we-describe-a-process-or-make-out-a_871395.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) > [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) > [Grey. It makes no statement whatever; it evokes neither feelings nor associations: it is really neither visible nor invisible. Its inconspicuousness gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/grey-it-makes-no-statement-whatever-it-evokes-neither-feelings-nor/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/gerhard-richter-2249_art_grey-it-makes-no-statement-whatever-it-e_2669316.jpg) > [But it is also untrue that I have nothing specific in mind. As with my landscapes: I see countless landscapes, photograph barely…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed7/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-it-is-also-untrue-that-i-have-nothin_226614.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) > [The photograph is the only picture that can truly convey information, even if it is technically faulty and the object can barely…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/435/gerhard-richter-2249_ifs_the-photograph-is-the-only-picture-that_104073.jpg) > [But my motivation was more a matter of wanting to create order - to keep track of things. All those boxes full…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/but-my-motivation-was-more-a-matter-of-wanting-to-create-order-to/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-my-motivation-was-more-a-matter-of-w_813575.jpg) > [Only about one per cent of my paintings show family members. Do they help me deal with problems? It's likely that these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/only-about-one-per-cent-of-my-paintings-show-family-members-do-they/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ff/gerhard-richter-2249_appearing_only-about-one-per-cent-of-my-paintings_1767748.jpg) > [A work of art is itself an object, first of all, and so manipulation is unavoidable: it's a prerequisite. But I needed…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b0d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_a-work-of-art-is-itself-an-object-first_77845.jpg) > [And then the work bears a strong sense of leave-taking for me personally. It ends the work I began in the 1960s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-of-leave-taking-for-me/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg) > [Photography has almost no reality; it is almost a hundred per cent picture. And painting always has reality: you can touch the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/photography-has-almost-no-reality-it-is-almost-a-hundred-per-cent/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dea/gerhard-richter-2249_cents_photography-has-almost-no-reality-it-is_3159533.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) ## Other authors on Photograph ## 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/photograph/gerhard-richter/#itemlist", "name": "17 Photograph Quotes By Gerhard Richter", "numberOfItems": 17, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "All photographs are far more important than any painting.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/all-photographs-are-far-more-important-than-any-painting/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All photographs are far more important than any painting.” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To make a photograph is already the first artificial act.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/to-make-a-photograph-is-already-the-first-artificial-act/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/514/gerhard-richter-2249_artificial_to-make-a-photograph-is-already-the-firs_987188.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/514/gerhard-richter-2249_artificial_to-make-a-photograph-is-already-the-firs_987188.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/514/gerhard-richter-2249_artificial_to-make-a-photograph-is-already-the-firs_987188.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To make a photograph is already the first artificial act.” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I like everything that has no style: dictionaries, photographs, nature, myself and my paintings. (Because style is violent, and I am not violent.)", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/i-like-everything-that-has-no-style-dictionaries-photographs-nature/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/904/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-like-everything-that-has-no-style-dict_2441808.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/904/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-like-everything-that-has-no-style-dict_2441808.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/904/gerhard-richter-2249_art_i-like-everything-that-has-no-style-dict_2441808.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I like everything that has no style: dictionaries, photographs, nature, myself and my paintings. (Because…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The photograph is the most perfect picture. It does not change; it is absolute, and therefore autonomous, unconditional, devoid of style. Both in its way of informing, and in what it informs of, it is my source.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/the-photograph-is-the-most-perfect-picture-it-does-not-change-it-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/572/gerhard-richter-2249_absolutes_the-photograph-is-the-most-perfect-pictu_1183987.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/572/gerhard-richter-2249_absolutes_the-photograph-is-the-most-perfect-pictu_1183987.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/572/gerhard-richter-2249_absolutes_the-photograph-is-the-most-perfect-pictu_1183987.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The photograph is the most perfect picture. It does not change; it is absolute, and therefore autonomous…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When we describe a process, or make out an invoice, or photograph a tree, we create models; without them we would know nothing of reality and would be animals.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/when-we-describe-a-process-or-make-out-an-invoice-or-photograph-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db3/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_when-we-describe-a-process-or-make-out-a_871395.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db3/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_when-we-describe-a-process-or-make-out-a_871395.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db3/gerhard-richter-2249_animal_when-we-describe-a-process-or-make-out-a_871395.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When we describe a process, or make out an invoice, or photograph a tree, we create models; without them we…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "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": 7, "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'. The photograph has an abstraction of its own, which is not easy to see through.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/when-i-paint-from-a-photograph-conscious-thinking-is-eliminated-i-don/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f11/gerhard-richter-2249_abstraction_when-i-paint-from-a-photograph-conscious_612663.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f11/gerhard-richter-2249_abstraction_when-i-paint-from-a-photograph-conscious_612663.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f11/gerhard-richter-2249_abstraction_when-i-paint-from-a-photograph-conscious_612663.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When I paint from a photograph, conscious thinking is eliminated. I don't know what I am doing. My work is…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Grey. It makes no statement whatever; it evokes neither feelings nor associations: it is really neither visible nor invisible. Its inconspicuousness gives it the capacity to mediate, to make visible, in a positively illusionistic way, like a photograph. It has the capacity that no other colour has, to make 'nothing' visible.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/grey-it-makes-no-statement-whatever-it-evokes-neither-feelings-nor/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/gerhard-richter-2249_art_grey-it-makes-no-statement-whatever-it-e_2669316.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/gerhard-richter-2249_art_grey-it-makes-no-statement-whatever-it-e_2669316.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/708/gerhard-richter-2249_art_grey-it-makes-no-statement-whatever-it-e_2669316.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Grey. It makes no statement whatever; it evokes neither feelings nor associations: it is really neither…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But it is also untrue that I have nothing specific in mind. As with my landscapes: I see countless landscapes, photograph barely 1 in 100,000, and paint barely 1 in 100 of those that I photograph. I am therefore seeking something quite specific; from this I conclude that I know what I want.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/but-it-is-also-untrue-that-i-have-nothing-specific-in-mind-as-with-my/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed7/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-it-is-also-untrue-that-i-have-nothin_226614.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed7/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-it-is-also-untrue-that-i-have-nothin_226614.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed7/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-it-is-also-untrue-that-i-have-nothin_226614.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But it is also untrue that I have nothing specific in mind. As with my landscapes: I see countless…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "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": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The photograph is the only picture that can truly convey information, even if it is technically faulty and the object can barely be identified. A painting of a murder is of no interest whatever; but a photograph of a murder fascinates everyone.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/the-photograph-is-the-only-picture-that-can-truly-convey-information/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/435/gerhard-richter-2249_ifs_the-photograph-is-the-only-picture-that_104073.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/435/gerhard-richter-2249_ifs_the-photograph-is-the-only-picture-that_104073.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/435/gerhard-richter-2249_ifs_the-photograph-is-the-only-picture-that_104073.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The photograph is the only picture that can truly convey information, even if it is technically faulty and…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But my motivation was more a matter of wanting to create order - to keep track of things. All those boxes full of photographs and sketches weigh you down, because they have something unfinished, incomplete, about them. So it's better to present the usable material in an orderly fashion and throw the other stuff away. That's how the Atlas came to be, and I exhibited it a few times.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/but-my-motivation-was-more-a-matter-of-wanting-to-create-order-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-my-motivation-was-more-a-matter-of-w_813575.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-my-motivation-was-more-a-matter-of-w_813575.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df8/gerhard-richter-2249_art_but-my-motivation-was-more-a-matter-of-w_813575.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But my motivation was more a matter of wanting to create order - to keep track of things. All those boxes…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Only about one per cent of my paintings show family members. Do they help me deal with problems? It's likely that these problems can only be depicted. But photographs, private ones and others, keep appearing that fascinate me so much that I want to paint them. And sometimes the real meaning these images have for me only becomes apparent later.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/only-about-one-per-cent-of-my-paintings-show-family-members-do-they/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ff/gerhard-richter-2249_appearing_only-about-one-per-cent-of-my-paintings_1767748.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ff/gerhard-richter-2249_appearing_only-about-one-per-cent-of-my-paintings_1767748.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ff/gerhard-richter-2249_appearing_only-about-one-per-cent-of-my-paintings_1767748.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Only about one per cent of my paintings show family members. Do they help me deal with problems? It's likely…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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 objectivity of the photograph in order to correct my own way of seeing: for instance, if I draw an object from nature, I start to stylize and to change it in accordance with my personal vision and my training. But if I paint from a photograph, I can forget all the criteria that I get from these sources. I can paint against my will, as it were. And that, to me, felt like an enrichment.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/a-work-of-art-is-itself-an-object-first-of-all-and-so-manipulation-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b0d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_a-work-of-art-is-itself-an-object-first_77845.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b0d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_a-work-of-art-is-itself-an-object-first_77845.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b0d/gerhard-richter-2249_art_a-work-of-art-is-itself-an-object-first_77845.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A work of art is itself an object, first of all, and so manipulation is unavoidable: it's a prerequisite…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "And then the work bears a strong sense of leave-taking for me personally. It ends the work I began in the 1960s (paintings from black-and-white photographs), with a compressed summation that precludes any possible continuation. And so it is a leave-taking from thoughts and feelings of my own on a very basic level. Not that this is a deliberate act, of course; it is a quasi-automatic sequence of disintegration and reformation which I can perceive, as always, only in retrospect.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-of-leave-taking-for-me/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“And then the work bears a strong sense of leave-taking for me personally. It ends the work I began in the…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 16, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Photography has almost no reality; it is almost a hundred per cent picture. And painting always has reality: you can touch the paint; it has presence; but it always yields a picture - no matter whether good or bad. That's all the theory. It's no good. I once took some small photographs and then smeared them with paint. That partly resolved the problem, and it's really good - better than anything I could ever say on the subject.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/photography-has-almost-no-reality-it-is-almost-a-hundred-per-cent/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dea/gerhard-richter-2249_cents_photography-has-almost-no-reality-it-is_3159533.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dea/gerhard-richter-2249_cents_photography-has-almost-no-reality-it-is_3159533.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dea/gerhard-richter-2249_cents_photography-has-almost-no-reality-it-is_3159533.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Photography has almost no reality; it is almost a hundred per cent picture. And painting always has reality…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 17, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "... landscapes or still-lifes I paint in between the abstract works; they constitute about one-tenth of my production. On the one hand they are useful, because I like to work from nature - although I do use a photograph - because I think that any detail from nature has a logic I would like to see in abstraction as well.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gerhard Richter" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/landscapes-or-still-lifes-i-paint-in-between-the-abstract-works-they/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/gerhard-richter-2249_abstract_landscapes-or-still-lifes-i-paint-in-bet_1848162.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/gerhard-richter-2249_abstract_landscapes-or-still-lifes-i-paint-in-bet_1848162.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/gerhard-richter-2249_abstract_landscapes-or-still-lifes-i-paint-in-bet_1848162.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“... landscapes or still-lifes I paint in between the abstract works; they constitute about one-tenth of my…” — Gerhard Richter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photograph/gerhard-richter/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photograph/gerhard-richter/", "name": "Photograph Quotes by Gerhard Richter", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photograph/gerhard-richter/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg" }, "description": "17 Photograph quotes by Gerhard Richter. 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