Gerhard Richter 1

Davis Lisboa, Gerhard Richter 1, 2017. Oil on linen, 40 × 40 × 3.5 cm (15.75 × 15.75 × 1.38 in).

Gerhard Richter 1 is conceptually grounded in a photographic source associated with Gerhard Richter, adopting the artist’s characteristic visual language through a sustained engagement with blur. The image is rendered in oil with a controlled softness that evokes the optical instability of out-of-focus photography, translating mechanical perception into painterly terms.

Within the structure of The Paintings Section from Davis Museum, initiated in 2011, the work occupies a singular position. While the broader series is divided between portraits and still lifes—centred on artist-founded museums and their emblematic works—this painting introduces a deliberate deviation. Richter’s presence extends the series beyond its internal genealogy, foregrounding a formal rather than strictly conceptual lineage.

The surface is built through a measured application of oil on linen, where diffusion and precision coexist. The blurred image resists fixation, maintaining a state of visual suspension that aligns with the painting’s reflective condition, oscillating between appearance and dissolution.

This work belongs to the so-called “Blue Period” (2015–2020), defined by the use of the Davis Museum’s institutional blue. Here, colour functions as both unifying device and temporal marker, situating the painting within the evolving internal structure of the series while preserving its distinct formal identity.