As of: February 15, 2024, 4:35 p.m
By: Katja Kraft
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Back from the restoration: Employees transport Gerhard Richter's works to the BMW four-cylinder in Munich.
© BMW
Gerhard Richter's works are the most expensive in the world.
In Munich, three of his pictures, freshly renovated, shine at BMW.
And everyone can see them.
How beautiful the skin is in summer.
Tired look in the mirror – “and how dry and pale in winter”.
Every season leaves its mark.
Why should paintings be any different than our weathered faces?
Even the works of one of the most expensive living artists in the world are not immune to the influences of time.
This superstar of the scene, Gerhard Richter, just celebrated his 92nd birthday.
Three of his works have now been freshly restored in Munich.
They hang in the foyer of the BMW high-rise, shining like they did 50 years ago.
Radiant as it was 50 years ago: The blue work from Gerhard Richter's three-part group “Red - Yellow - Blue” is back in the foyer of the BMW high-rise in Munich.
© BMW
In 1973, Gerhard Richter created his work group “Red – Yellow – Blue” specifically for the automobile manufacturer’s building.
A game with the three primary colors.
An exploration of what is possible through painting.
Lively picture surfaces, each three by six meters in size.
Flowing tones from matt to silky gloss.
And that's why it's not easy to restore?
“It's true, the more detailed a picture is, the more that happens to it, the more the eye is distracted and jumps over the surface, takes in the whole picture and doesn't look into so much detail,” says Ekkehard Kneer, who is responsible for the restoration of the Gerhard -Richter-Werke was commissioned.
With almost monochrome images like these, however, the viewer pays much more attention to the surface phenomena.
As a restorer, he can't make a mistake - a bad retouching shines through such a work like a poorly covered pimple on an unmade-up face.
Gerhard Richter is one of the most highly traded artists in the world.
© EPA/FILIP SINGER
Kneer approaches each work carefully.
First of all, a small-scale check is carried out at the edge of the painting to see how the layer of paint reacts to solvents, to moisture, to heat.
And then proceeded step by step.
“In the case of the Richter pictures, there was a lot to do, but it was more of a maintenance measure, the focus was on preserving the paint layer.” The foyer of the high-rise building doesn't have a museum-like indoor climate - how does it?
The door is constantly opening and cold or warm air is flowing in;
in summer the sunlight hits the lobby.
That's why glass display cases were made for the newly restored paintings.
From now on the three are protected from any climate – and soup-slinging climate protectors.
Concentrated: The experts restoring the works that Gerhard Richter created for BMW in 1973.
© BMW
Kneer has been working in his profession for 30 years.
A professional.
And yet the question remains: to restore the work of a living artist - a judge!
– Aren't you afraid of breaking something?
The restorer, who is very reserved and cautious even in conversation, almost laughs out loud for the first time.
“Of course, from a consciousness point of view, it makes a difference whether the artist is still alive.
But in principle we care about the work of art as such.
That’s relevant for us – autonomous and conceivable without the author.” But of course, a judge like that is something special.
The size alone – 18 square meters for each of the three works.
“I consider it a privilege to be able to use my work to ensure that such cultural assets are preserved.” And to continue to shine.
Summer and winter.
In the BMW high-rise at Petuelring 130 in Munich, the works are open to the public in the foyer on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.