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In 1967, Gerhard Richter noted on a sketch for his very first work in glass – ‘seeing everything, comprehending nothing’. Richter created the sculpture in this room in 2010, and here too, his subject is seeing and understanding, illusion and reality.

Gerhard Richter made this glass sculpture especially for this room – as the Gerhard Richter Archive research associate Kerstin Küster explains:

“The work’s dimensions – its proportions and weight – are optimised for this particular location and space. It seems such a modest work standing here, so transparent – and yet this is one of the most important works in this room.”

Dietmar Elger, Head of the Gerhard Richter Archive, tells us exactly why that is.

“The glass panes are not completely transparent, but have a slight mirror effect. When you walk around them, you always see different sections. But you also see reflections – how the sections you are looking at are doubled or tripled and superimposed. Looking at the work from the narrow sides, you’ll also see how your own image is repeated in the reflections.”

So depending on where you are standing, the work constantly creates new variations of images. Gerhard Richter gave this sculpture the very factual title, 9 Upright Standing Panes. It does not symbolise anything, and is not intended to evoke any associations. Instead, it offers an insight into spatiality itself. Space is what it is – but our perception of it constantly changes.