The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has mounted a major retrospective dedicated to the German master Gerhard Richter (b. 1932), widely considered one of the most influential and complex contemporary artists. Presented across all of the foundation’s Frank Gehry-designed galleries, the exhibition, which runs from October 17, 2025, to March 2, 2026, is an unprecedented examination of the artist’s six-decade career.
Unmatched Scope and Scale
The retrospective, co-curated by Dieter Schwarz and Nicholas Serota, brings together approximately 275 works spanning from 1962 to 2024. This scale allows for a comprehensive chronological survey of Richter’s radical shifts and persistent themes, showcasing oil paintings, glass and steel sculptures, watercolors, drawings, and overpainted photographs.
The exhibition itinerary follows a decade-by-decade progression, tracing the artist’s relentless exploration of the limits and possibilities of painting: 
- Early Works (1962–1970): Focuses on his initial photo-based paintings (or Vermalung), where he blurs images taken from newspapers, magazines, and family photos (like Onkel Rudi and Tisch), using the photograph as an intermediary medium to filter and question reality.
- The 1970s and Abstraction: Documents the period where Richter began questioning representation, leading to the early foundations of his distinctive approach to abstraction. This includes works like the influential 48 Portraits (1972) and early explorations of the painted surface itself.
- Major Series: Key monumental works and series are included, notably the profoundly somber and historical October 18, 1977 series (on exceptional loan from MoMA, New York), which explicitly refers to recent German history (the Baader-Meinhof Group).
- Late Abstractions and Drawings: The show culminates with the powerful abstract squeegee paintings from the 2000s and his final abstract canvases completed in 2017, alongside the more recent, intimate ink and pencil drawings on paper, a medium he has continued to pursue.
Thematic Focus: Skepticism and the Image
The retrospective highlights Richter’s lifelong intellectual project: sustained skepticism toward the image, history, and the very function of painting in an image-saturated world.
The chronological display underscores the duality in his career (the continuous oscillation between figurative realism and pure abstraction) which is interpreted not as stylistic indecision but as an ongoing argument with vision. By filtering every image through a photo, drawing, or mechanical process, Richter critiques the instability of appearances and insists on opacity and doubt over digital clarity and market immediacy.
The show is a powerful reminder that Richter’s practice is rooted in confronting complex historical and personal memory, even as his abstract works have become some of the most expensive commodities in the global art market. The exhibition, coinciding with events like Art Basel Paris, highlights the paradox of a deeply skeptical artist achieving such immense institutional and commercial validation.
This comprehensive overview confirms Richter’s stature, revealing an oeuvre that moves between rupture and continuity, constantly defying categorization while challenging the viewer’s trust in what they see.
