Townscape M4 1968

Gerhard Richter made Townscape M4 with oil on canvas, and what hits me first is how the brushstrokes themselves build the scene. The paint is applied in these chunky, almost staccato marks. You can practically feel the drag of the brush across the canvas. It's like Richter is saying, "Here's paint, here's a building, they're both real, but they're also totally different." This tension makes the painting buzz with energy. Look at the way he's used a limited palette of greys, whites, and blacks. It's almost like a black and white photograph, but not quite. Each stroke is like a little tile in a mosaic, coming together to form something that both is, and isn’t, a townscape. This reminds me of Morandi, another painter who squeezed so much juice out of a limited range of subjects. Richter, like Morandi, reminds us that art isn't about perfect representation. It’s about seeing, feeling, and thinking. It's a reminder that beauty can be found in the simplest of forms.