--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And then the work bears a strong sense of…" description: "\"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 photogr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg" --- # And then the work bears a strong sense of leave-taking for… ![“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…” quote by Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cc/gerhard-richter-2249_1960s_and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-o_3087603.jpg) > “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.” [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. The artist feels a natural ending to a long project, a forced closure that feels both inevitable and involuntary, reflecting on the cycle of creation and dissolution. **In simple terms:** Art projects often end naturally, feeling both inevitable and involuntary. Key Takeaway Accept the natural end of creative cycles. Themes art creation closure Mood contemplative melancholic introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - exhibition planning - artist retrospectives - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism creative process memory Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize a natural ending? - What does closure mean to you? A Different Perspective The ending may be more about perception than intention. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Black and white](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/) [Deliberate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deliberate/) [Disintegration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disintegration/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Reformation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reformation/) [Retrospect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/retrospect/) [Thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts/) [Thoughts and feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts-and-feelings/) ## Related quotes > [“Reading is a technology for perspective-taking. When someone else’s thoughts are in your head, you are observing the world from that person’s vantage point.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/reading-is-a-technology-for-perspective-taking-when-someone-else-s-2/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“As we observe the way our minds and bodies react to pleasure and pain, we begin to clearly understand how ultimately impersonal this human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noah-levine/as-we-observe-the-way-our-minds-and-bodies-react-to-pleasure-and-pain/) [Noah Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noah-levine/) > [Empathizing with someone's 'no' protects us from taking it personally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-b-rosenberg/empathizing-with-someone-s-no-protects-us-from-taking-it-personally/) [Marshall B. Rosenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-b-rosenberg/) > [When we really see other people as they are without taking it personally, we can never be hurt by what they say or do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-angel-ruiz/when-we-really-see-other-people-as-they-are-without-taking-it/) [Miguel Angel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-angel-ruiz/) > [People love to judge, get used to it and stop taking it personally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-budig/people-love-to-judge-get-used-to-it-and-stop-taking-it-personally/) [Kathryn Budig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-budig/) > [“Not Taking NO Personally Here’s my take on the fear of rejection: It’s a sign that you’re placing a higher value on your fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-fenton/not-taking-no-personally-here-s-my-take-on-the-fear-of-rejection-it-s/) [Richard Fenton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-fenton/) > [Like so many empires before it, the Soviet Union eventually imploded and fragmented, falling victim not so much to a direct military defeat as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zbigniew-brzezinski/like-so-many-empires-before-it-the-soviet-union-eventually-imploded/) [Zbigniew Brzezinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zbigniew-brzezinski/) > [“Since the atoms are indestructible, the disintegration of human body after death should be actually considered as the dispersion of the separate filaments (except…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gamow/since-the-atoms-are-indestructible-the-disintegration-of-human-body/) [George Gamow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gamow/) > [Political and social justice requires, not the disintegration of a country and destruction or humiliation of a class which shows initiative, intelligence and drive,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syama-prasad-mukherjee/political-and-social-justice-requires-not-the-disintegration-of-a/) [Syama Prasad Mukherjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/syama-prasad-mukherjee/) > [Fundamentalists are panicked by the apparent disintegration of the family, the disappearance of certainty and the decay of morality. Fear leads them to ask,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garrett-hardin/fundamentalists-are-panicked-by-the-apparent-disintegration-of-the/) [Garrett Hardin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garrett-hardin/) > [One of the prices that we pay for integration was the disintegration of the black community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-smith/one-of-the-prices-that-we-pay-for-integration-was-the-disintegration/) [Ed Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-smith/) > [There’s one thing that’s been 'learned' maybe from Tunisia and Egypt that I think is a mistake. And that is that the existing ruler…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-sharp/there-s-one-thing-that-s-been-learned-maybe-from-tunisia-and-egypt/) [Gene Sharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-sharp/) > [Information from destructive activities going back a hundred years right up until today is being incorporated into the system. And as that happens the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-hawken/information-from-destructive-activities-going-back-a-hundred-years/) [Paul Hawken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-hawken/) > [There's such cultural rot taking place, such a disintegration throughout our culture. Values, morality, you name it. Standards have been relaxed, and people are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/there-s-such-cultural-rot-taking-place-such-a-disintegration/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Our country has shown a lack of will to resist its own disintegration .. . Canada is practically the only country left in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/our-country-has-shown-a-lack-of-will-to-resist-its-own-disintegration/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) ## 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/) [Explore all 176 Gerhard Richter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) ## More 1960s quotes > [We do need different types of propulsion to get to Mars. I wrote one of the first Ph.D. theses on that in the 1960s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-do-need-different-types-of-propulsion-to-get-to-mars-i-wrote-one/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it. And if we cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/each-year-more-than-100-000-high-school-graduates-with-proved-ability/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [Nearly all the writing of our time is likely to disappear in a hundred years. Certainly most readers - and nearly all critics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/nearly-all-the-writing-of-our-time-is-likely-to-disappear-in-a/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [Sometimes a party must sail against the wind. We cannot heed the call of those who say it is time to furl the sail.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-kennedy/sometimes-a-party-must-sail-against-the-wind-we-cannot-heed-the-call/) [Edward Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-kennedy/) > [ \[In the 1960s\]...you could take LSD but you couldn't wear a pantsuit. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsey-johnson/in-the-1960s-you-could-take-lsd-but-you-couldn-t-wear-a-pantsuit/) [Betsey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsey-johnson/) > [Is it a coincidence that stories from the private life became more popular just as the grand hope for public redemption through revolution was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-griffin/is-it-a-coincidence-that-stories-from-the-private-life-became-more/) [Susan Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-griffin/) > [I think the general anxiety of the 1960s - '70s spawned our interest in the living dead. When people worry about the end of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-brooks/i-think-the-general-anxiety-of-the-1960s-70s-spawned-our-interest-in/) [Max Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-brooks/) > [“A friend once told me a story about a former Black Panther leader in a Midwest community who in the 1960s had his phone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-j-rodr-guez/a-friend-once-told-me-a-story-about-a-former-black-panther-leader-in/) [Luis J. Rodríguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-j-rodr-guez/) > [I was never bothered about my position in the industry. If I had believed in it, I wouldn't have allowed anyone to get ahead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dharmendra/i-was-never-bothered-about-my-position-in-the-industry-if-i-had/) [Dharmendra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dharmendra/) > [Under the system that we now have to nominate presidential candidates, for instance, I would prefer that we have a system that is closer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-beschloss/under-the-system-that-we-now-have-to-nominate-presidential-candidates/) [Michael Beschloss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-beschloss/) > [My son Bill, who came to me in 1960-he was 14 then, quoted the old parable to me: "It is not by their words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madalyn-murray-o-hair/my-son-bill-who-came-to-me-in-1960-he-was-14-then-quoted-the-old/) [Madalyn Murray O'Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madalyn-murray-o-hair/) > [There is a book called San Francisco Tape Music Centre:1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde and this book describes everything that you want to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/there-is-a-book-called-san-francisco-tape-music-centre-1960s/) [Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/) > [Much of the art of the 1960s, from body art to video and direct performance, was concerned with similar issues. And then there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valie-export/much-of-the-art-of-the-1960s-from-body-art-to-video-and-direct/) [Valie Export](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valie-export/) > [I went through college in the 1960s without having any idea that I was going to have to make a living. When I graduated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francine-prose/i-went-through-college-in-the-1960s-without-having-any-idea-that-i/) [Francine Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francine-prose/) > [“At the beginning of a decade when everything was beginning to seem possible, nothing seemed impossible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-lee-shetterly/at-the-beginning-of-a-decade-when-everything-was-beginning-to-seem/) [Margot Lee Shetterly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-lee-shetterly/) Browse all 486 1960s quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@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" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-of-leave-taking-for-me/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "1960s" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-of-leave-taking-for-me/#quotation", "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": "BreadcrumbList", "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": "Gerhard Richter", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "And then the work bears a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-of-leave-taking-for-me/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/and-then-the-work-bears-a-strong-sense-of-leave-taking-for-me/#breadcrumb" }, { "@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 } } ] } ```