Ölberg

Gerhard Richter dragged and scraped a spatula slowly over thickly applied paint, allowing multiple layers of color to show through. What appears to be a spontaneous composition was laboriously worked by the artist to achieve complexity and depth. The painting’s title translates as “Mount of Olives” and suggests a reference not only to a natural setting but also to the biblical mountain of the New Testament. However, Richter’s approach to abstraction is ironic and detached in contrast to the spiritual resonances of the American Abstract Expressionist tradition. His title remains purposely opaque and may even allude to the street name of the home of the grandparents of artist Iza Genzken, his former wife.