Gerhard Richter (2003)

Gerhard Richter, considered the world's most influential and expensive living artist, was experiencing widespread acclaim in London in 2011 with his "Panorama" retrospective at Tate Modern. This film was made during his equally successful "40 Years of Painting" retrospective at MOMA in the United States and covers his entire artistic career. Born in Dresden in 1932, the year before Hitler's rise to power, Richter later lived in communist East Germany before fleeing to the West just before the Berlin Wall was built. He has since created a vast and varied body of work, ranging from blurred paintings based on photographs to large-scale abstractions, works referencing the Baader Meinhof group, and perceptual installations using glass. Gerald Fox's film follows Richter at his Cologne home as he reflects and prepares for a new series of paintings.