Townscape 1969

Gerhard Richter made this painting, Townscape, without a confirmed date, using oils. Just look at how he renders the city, a subject that's usually so fixed, with these uncertain, blocky strokes! The whole thing feels like it's dissolving before our eyes. Up close, you can see how each brushstroke is laid down almost deliberately, not quite touching the next, creating this fragmented surface. It’s not about perfection. There's a real push and pull between representation and abstraction here. The paint is opaque, but thin, allowing the eye to move quickly through it. The grey monochrome creates a hazy, dreamlike quality, a blurring that reminds me of early photographs. Like Vija Celmins' drawings, it captures a moment of uncertainty. Richter shows us that even something as solid as a cityscape can be fluid. It’s a reminder that our perceptions are always shifting.