GERHARD RICHTER

Gerhard Richter: Engadin is the first presentation to focus on the acclaimed German artist Gerhard Richter’s relationship with the Engadin Valley and his fascination with this landscape. From 9 December, Hauser & Wirth St. Moritz collaborates with Nietzsche-Haus and the Segantini Museum to present this exhibition across their three locations in the region. Curated by Dieter Schwarz, the show brings together a large number of paintings, overpainted photographs, photographs and a sculpture inspired by the Engadin landscape for the first time.

In 1989, Richter first visited Sils Maria in the Engadin for a winter vacation; the open, high valley with its magnificent lakes, enclosed by mountain massifs, made a deep impression on the artist and he returned to the region on several occasions during both the summer and winter seasons. In the 1990s, Richter created paintings based on photographs he had taken on walks and hikes in the Engadin, marking the beginning of a new chapter in his exploration of landscape painting. In 1992, a small exhibition curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist at the Nietzsche-Haus in Sils Maria was held, where overpainted photographs of the Upper Engadin landscape were shown for the first time. This innovative group of works, in which Richter confronts the application of paint with photographic motifs, address questions that Richter has repeatedly posed in his abstract paintings throughout his career.