--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All photographs are far more important…" description: "\"All photographs are far more important than any painting.\" — Gerhard Richter" 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. ![“All photographs are far more important than any painting.” quote by Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/gerhard-richter-2249_important_all-photographs-are-far-more-important-t_141479.jpg) [Open 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.” [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Photographs capture reality and detail in ways paintings cannot, making them more significant. **In simple terms:** Photos are more important than paintings. Key Takeaway Value visual documentation. Themes art photography reality history memory Mood reflective critical Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - journalism - personal archives - historical record Key Concepts detail accuracy preservation Questions to Reflect On - How do images shape our memory? - What is lost when we rely only on photos? A Different Perspective Paintings convey emotion beyond literal detail. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Photographs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photographs/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) ## Related quotes > [It is important that the painting can be inhabited, so that the mind's eye, or the eye's mind, can move about it credibly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/it-is-important-that-the-painting-can-be-inhabited-so-that-the-mind-s/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [I feel like what's most important for painting - which has been hierarchically on the top for a really long time in terms of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-owens/i-feel-like-what-s-most-important-for-painting-which-has-been/) [Laura Owens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-owens/) > [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/) > [Authenticity is too big a subject to just toss in with the question about the photographs!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-kushner/authenticity-is-too-big-a-subject-to-just-toss-in-with-the-question/) [Rachel Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-kushner/) > [To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-take-a-photograph-is-to-participate-in-another-person-s-mortality/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'd like the photographs to potentially be meaningful to a wide range of people. They do not grow out of the reportage mode, this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torbj-rn-r-dland/i-d-like-the-photographs-to-potentially-be-meaningful-to-a-wide-range/) [Torbjørn Rødland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/torbj-rn-r-dland/) > [Even the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson, with all due respect to him, are notoriously burned and dodged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-sternfeld/even-the-photographs-of-henri-cartier-bresson-with-all-due-respect-to/) [Joel Sternfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-sternfeld/) > [My photographs are not pure: they are a seething wealth of imperfection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-sommer/my-photographs-are-not-pure-they-are-a-seething-wealth-of-imperfection/) [Frederick Sommer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-sommer/) > [Among the most compelling truths in some of the early photographs is their implication of silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-adams/among-the-most-compelling-truths-in-some-of-the-early-photographs-is/) [Robert Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-adams/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I don't look at other photographs much at all. I don't know why. I study my own a lot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-eggleston/i-don-t-look-at-other-photographs-much-at-all-i-don-t-know-why-i/) [William Eggleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-eggleston/) > [I have looked at so many photographs, I can not see them anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-heizer/i-have-looked-at-so-many-photographs-i-can-not-see-them-anymore/) [Michael Heizer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-heizer/) > [My photographs are not just about the instant of movement you capture in the camera. It's much more total, about constant movement that became…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-orozco/my-photographs-are-not-just-about-the-instant-of-movement-you-capture/) [Gabriel Orozco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-orozco/) > [I don't really have any faith in anybody enjoying photographs in a large enough sense to matter. I think it's all about finances, on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-winogrand/i-don-t-really-have-any-faith-in-anybody-enjoying-photographs-in-a/) [Garry Winogrand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-winogrand/) > [Most of the photographs people take with their cameraphones are of little value in terms of documentary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-parr/most-of-the-photographs-people-take-with-their-cameraphones-are-of/) [Martin Parr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-parr/) ## 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/) > [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/) > [The smudging makes the paintings a bit more complete. When they're not blurred, so many details seem wrong, and the whole thing is wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/the-smudging-makes-the-paintings-a-bit-more-complete-when-they-re-not/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) [Explore all 176 Gerhard Richter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) ## More Important quotes > [There is something more important than any ultimate weapon. That is the ultimate position-the position of total control over Earth that lies somewhere out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/there-is-something-more-important-than-any-ultimate-weapon-that-is/) [Lyndon B. 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