Confrontation No.671 1 1988

Gerhard Richter made this painting, Confrontation No.671 1, with oil on canvas, and it’s all about blurs and muted tones. You get the sense that the artwork is still coming into being; like Richter is searching through the act of painting itself. I imagine him standing in front of a large canvas, squinting at a photograph, and trying to capture a memory or a feeling. The paint is applied in layers, almost like veils, obscuring and revealing at the same time. Look at how he handles the face—it's there, but it's also not there, a ghost of an image. It reminds me of his other blurred portraits, where he's playing with the idea of representation and reality. Richter is totally in conversation with artists like Francis Bacon, who also explored the idea of the fragmented, distorted figure. And it's all a reminder that painting isn't about capturing a perfect likeness, it's about embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, and allowing for multiple interpretations.