Question 1

True or false: Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1932.

Accepted Answer

True. Gerhard Richter was born on February 9, 1932, in Dresden, Germany. He grew up there before defecting to West Germany in 1961. This is a basic biographical fact.

Question 2

True or false: Richter exclusively paints abstract works and has never created a figurative piece.

Accepted Answer

False. His career spans photorealistic portraits, landscapes, and still lifes—like 'Betty' and 'Woman with Umbrella'—alongside abstractions.

Question 3

True or false: Richter never uses photographs as references, preferring to paint from imagination.

Accepted Answer

False. Richter is known for his photorealistic works based on found photos and his own snapshots, blurring the line between painting and photography.

Question 4

True or false: Gerhard Richter created a stained glass window for the Cologne Cathedral in 2007.

Accepted Answer

True. In 2007, Gerhard Richter designed a stained glass window for the south transept of Cologne Cathedral, composed of randomly arranged colored squares. It was installed to replace a window destroyed in World War II.

Question 5

True or false: Gerhard Richter once painted a portrait of his mother using only a squeegee, no brushes.

Accepted Answer

False. Richter is famous for his squeegee technique on abstract works, but his photorealist portraits—like those of his mother—were painted with brushes.

Question 6

True or false: Richter designed the giant stained-glass window for Cologne Cathedral in 2007.

Accepted Answer

True. Richter's abstract window, unveiled in 2007, comprises 11,500 mouth-blown glass squares in 72 colors, randomly arranged by a computer algorithm.

Question 7

True or false: Richter’s painting 'Abstraktes Bild' sold for over $46 million in 2015, a record for a living artist at the time.

Accepted Answer

True. That 1986 abstract work set a record at Sotheby’s London, making Richter one of the most expensive living artists.

Question 8

True or false: Gerhard Richter's series "October 18, 1977" depicts the deaths of members of the Red Army Faction.

Accepted Answer

True. Created in 1988, this series of 15 paintings by Gerhard Richter is based on media photographs of the Baader-Meinhof Group (Red Army Faction) and their deaths in prison. It is exhibited at MoMA.

Question 9

True or false: Gerhard Richter was a student of Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts.

Accepted Answer

False. Richter studied at the academy from 1961–1963 when Beuys was a professor, but he was not taught by Beuys. They later became colleagues as both taught there.

Question 10

True or false: Gerhard Richter was a founding member of the Fluxus art movement.

Accepted Answer

False. Gerhard Richter was briefly associated with Fluxus in the 1960s, attending festivals and collaborating, but he was not a founding member. Fluxus was founded by George Maciunas and others.

Question 11

True or false: Gerhard Richter painted the ceiling of the Dresden Frauenkirche after its reconstruction.

Accepted Answer

False. The ceiling of the Dresden Frauenkirche was repainted by other artists during its reconstruction (1994–2005). Gerhard Richter, though from Dresden, had no involvement in that project.

Question 12

True or false: Gerhard Richter's painting "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)" sold for $46.3 million in 2015.

Accepted Answer

True. In February 2015, Sotheby's London sold Gerhard Richter's "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)" for £30.4 million (about $46.3 million), setting a record for a painting by a living artist at the time.

Question 13

True or false: Richter’s 'Birkenau' series is based on smuggled photographs from the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Accepted Answer

True. He created four abstract paintings in 2014, using blurred images taken secretly by prisoners at Birkenau, to confront historical trauma.

Question 14

True or false: Gerhard Richter's first major museum retrospective was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1999.

Accepted Answer

False. Gerhard Richter's first major retrospective was in 1977 at the Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany. MoMA's retrospective came later, in 2002, not 1999.

Question 15

True or false: Richter was a member of the East German Communist Party before defecting to West Germany.

Accepted Answer

True. He fled from East to West Germany in 1961, just months before the Berlin Wall was built, after a brief party membership.

Question 16

True or false: Gerhard Richter burned some of his early paintings.

Accepted Answer

True. Richter has acknowledged destroying early works, including burning some he deemed failures.

Gerhard Richter Trivia Questions