Moritz (863-1)

After leaving East Germany for the West in 1961, Richter began painting in a style known as ‘capitalist realism’: a satirical response to both state-sanctioned East German art and media-driven Western pop culture. He bases these works on photos of everyday objects, which he has collected over the years in what he terms his ‘Atlas’. While the earliest paintings bear some resemblance to pop art, Richter intentionally blurs the images by dragging a brush or palette knife across them – in the process, shifting attention from the subject to the way in which it is depicted.

Moritz, a portrait of the artist’s infant son, is an excellent example of this. Richter painted two versions: the smaller is more realistic, while the larger is more roughly rendered and therefore more abstract, see Moritz, who appears to have just eaten, gazes wide-eyed at the viewer – an image that can be found in millions of photo albums. The painting exudes a touching sense of intimacy, but also demonstrates a virtuoso mastery of paint, seen in the velvety baby skin, the contrasts of light and dark and the shiny reflection on the spoon. Through such works, Richter masterfully demonstrates the enduring power and enchantment of painting.

Richter began painting copies of old family snapshots as early as 1964. Whereas British and American pop artists tended to choose sensational media images, he sought out the familiar and everyday instead. Since the 1970s, he has painted his own family as well, based on photos that he considers personal devotional images – icons – which keep the memory of that person alive. For Richter, family is a means by which to explore reality close to home. By depicting them as out of focus, he emphasises that even the people we know best remain somewhat mysterious when captured in a painting.