Gerhard Richter’s market milestones

Late eighties to early nineties paintings

Throughout his career, German artist Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) continually pushed the boundaries of painting, skillfully transitioning between abstract forms and representational images to create a diverse body of work. The late 1980s and early 1990s marked a pivotal period for Richter, as he developed his signature squeegee technique and rose to international acclaim.

Consequently, paintings created between 1985 and 1994 are highly coveted in Richter's market, generating an impressive $2.1 billion from 295 lots sold between 2004 and 2023. This segment's value nearly doubles Van Gogh's auction market which stands at $1.3 billion from just 66 lots sold over the past two decades.

Richter's works from this period particularly captivated buyers between 2008 and 2012. Notably, Abstraktes Bild (809-4), a painting from 1994, made Richter the most expensive living artist in 2012. Having set several auction records for the artist, these works now occupy nine of his top ten sales.

The market for Richter’s 1985-1994 paintings has shown remarkable resilience, even during the pandemic downturn. In 2020, "Abstraktes Bild (649-2)," a 1987 painting, made Richter the most expensive Western artist at an Asian auction when it was acquired by the Pola Museum in Hakone, Japan. By 2021, annual sales in this segment reached their highest level in six years.

Richter's auction records in this category are consistently set by monumental "Abstrakte Bilder" (abstract paintings) measuring 200 cm or more. These works have solidified Richter’s status as a central figure in the art market since the 2010s. For more insights, ArtExplored's Focus Report, highlights the evolution of the market for these specific paintings over the last twenty years.

In 2017, Richter announced his retirement from painting, concentrating instead on works on paper. He leaves behind an impressive oeuvre, comprising 3,819 paintings created over six decades, a quarter of them between 1985 and 1994. His reputation remains so well-established that for the past decade, at least one museum exhibition featuring his work has been organised worldwide each year.

The information in this article has been analysed by ArtExplored and is based on proprietary data.