Biography Gerhard Richter

1932 
born in Dresden, February 9. Grows up in Reichenau and
Waltersdorf, Oberlausitz/Saxony.

1948   
leaves school after 10th grade with a certificate of graduation
from the business school in Zittau.

1949    
apprenticeship as an advertising painter.

1950   
stage-set painter in the Stadttheater in Zittau, applies to the
Dresden Art Academy, but is rejected, begins a job painting
at the DEWAG in Zittau.

1951   
accepted at the Dresden Art Academy.

1953   
main study in the mural painting class with Prof. Heinz Lohma.

1956   
recieves diploma with the mural at the Deutsches Hygienemuseum Dresden, becomes a master student and is given
a studio at the Dresden Art Academy for three years.

1959   
visits the documenta 2 exhibition in Kassel.

1961   
escape from East Germany, study at the Art Academy in
Düsseldorf with K.O. Götz

1962
friendship with Konrad Lueg (= Konrad Fischer) and Sigmar Polke

1964   
finishes his study, first solo shows in the galleries Friedrich &
Dahlem, Munich and Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf.

1967   
visiting professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste,
Hamburg, is awarded the art price "Junger Westen" by the
German city of Recklinghausen.

1970    
Gerhard Richter and Blinky Palermo travel to New York.

1971   
professor at Dusseldorf Art Academy.

1978    
visiting professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art in Halifax.

1981   
is awarded the Arnold Bode Prize in Kassel.

1983    
moves to Cologne.

1985   
is awarded the Oskar Kokoschka Prize in Vienna.

1988   
guest professor at the Städelschule, Frankfurt/Main, is awarded
the Kaiserring of the city of Goslar

1994
ends of teaching at the Duesseldorf Art Academy

1995   
receives the Wolf Prize in Arts, Jerusalem.

1996   
moves to a new studio in the outskirts of Cologne.

1997   
is awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, receives the
Praemium Imperiale Price, Tokyo.

1998   
receives the Wexner Prize, Columbus, OH.

2000   
receives the Staatspreis of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

2001    
honorary doctorate from the University Leuven

2004   
opening of three rooms with art works by Gerhard Richter in the
Dresden Albertinum.

2007   
granting of the honorary citizenship of the city of Cologne,
dedication of the south transept window designed by Gerhard
Richter in the cathedral of Cologne.

2010   
reopening of the Albertinum with two rooms with works by
Gerhard Richter.

2011
retrospective "Panorama" at the Tate Modern, London

2012
exhibition "Atlas" at the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
retrospective "Panorama" at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin and at the Musée National d'art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Gerhard Richter lives and works in Cologne.