Rating and value of paintings by Gerhard Richter

If you own a work by or based on the artist Gerhard Richter and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers can help you. Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its value on the current market. Then, if you wish to sell your work of art, we will guide you towards the best possible means of obtaining the best possible price.

Artist's rating and value

A polymorphous painter, Gerhard Richter won over the critics, dealers and art collectors of his day. Since then, the artist's works have established themselves as sure values on the art market. From the 1990s onwards, the price of his work exploded, with a steady rise, particularly for works produced from the 50s onwards. Richter's works sell for between €20 and €36,328,500. In 2015, an oil on canvas from 1986 entitled Abstract Painting sold for €36,328,500, compared with an estimate of €18,837,000 to €26,910,000.

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

The artist's works and style

Gerhard Richter is a polymorphous painter who works with a variety of materials. He produces many prints, but also drawings and oil on canvas, which are his most highly-prized works. He moved from figuratism to abstraction. In some of his works, we can discern a neoplastic influence.

Gerhard Richter, German abstraction

Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden (Germany) in 1932. He initially trained as a painter, entering the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. He obtained a master's degree, which gave him access to a studio for three years. Early in his career, he was greatly influenced by Jackson Pollock and Lucio Fontana.
His first works were based on press photographs. As he also worked as a photographer, he drew inspiration from the subjects he photographed to produce his first canvases. Later, he began to direct his pictorial approach towards abstraction, invariably calling his canvases "Abstraktes Bild".

His talent was quickly recognized, which is why he went on to teach in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Canada. Under the FRG, he continued to work from his photographs, just as the Nouveaux Fauves were gaining notoriety. During this period, Richter was fascinated by skulls, which he painted upside down - a tribute to his colleague Georg Baselitz.

It will remain in operation until 2018. 

Gerhard Richter's imprint on 20th-century German art

Gerhard Richter left a colossal imprint on the history of art, making a major contribution to German abstraction. His artistic approach of working from photographs is quite unconventional, and establishes an obvious porosity between his photographs and his canvases.

In 2012, he was the world's most expensive living artist. His considerable output is one of the most highly rated on the auction market.

His signature

Not all Gerhard Richter's works are signed.

An example of his signature can be seen in the drawing below.

Appraising your property

If you own a work by Gerhard Richter, we invite you to request a free appraisal by filling in our online form. A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you to provide an estimate of the market value of your work.

If you're thinking of selling your work, our specialists will also guide you through the various alternatives available to obtain the best possible price, taking into account market trends and the specific features of each item.