It ends with the number 957, the windows installed in 2020 for the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mauritius in Tholey, Saarland. No further major projects or paintings are to be expected from him now, Gerhard Richter announced. "I have lost the ability to paint, it is no longer physically and mentally possible," said the artist, who now wants to focus more intensively on drawing. The first part of his catalog raisonné was published ten years ago for his 80th birthday.
Thus, the œuvre is now revealed through all six volumes. A total of 3536 book pages present 4118 individual works with all technical details, exhibitions, owners, and bibliography. Richter does not even count the early works from his time in the GDR. He only begins his valid work in 1962, after his escape to the West, with the painting "Table".
Responsible for the entire work is Dietmar Elger, who has practically dealt with Richter throughout his entire professional life. He once assisted in the artist's studio in Cologne, and now he heads the Gerhard Richter Archive in Dresden. Elger's thoroughness and the elaborate presentation come at a price: one volume costs 248 euros.
