201 Quotes by Gerhard Richter

It makes no sense to expect or claim to ‘make the invisible visible’, or the unknown known, or the unthinkable thinkable. We can draw conclusions about the invisible; we can postulate its existence with relative certainty. But all we can represent is an analogy, which stands for the invisible but is not it.

I don’t believe in the reality of painting, so I use different styles like clothes: it’s a way to disguise myself.

In truth, factual information – names or dates – have never interested me much. Those things are like an alien language that can interfere with the language of the painting, or even prevent its emergence.

The Atlas belongs to the Lenbachhaus in Munich – it’s long since ceased to belong to me. Occasionally I run across it somewhere, and I think it’s interesting because it looks different each time.

I don’t know what motivated the artist, which means that the paintings have an intrinsic quality. I think Goethe called it the ‘essential dimension,’ the thing that makes great works of art great.

Maybe we didn’t even have a chance. The message of American Pop Art was so powerful and so optimistic. But it was also very limited, and that led us to believe that we could somehow distance ourselves from it and communicate a different intention.

I want pictorial content without sentiment, but I want it as human as possible.

Chance determines our lives in important ways.

I don't believe in God.