Tulips – P17

Gerhard Richter’s 1995 oil on canvas ‘Tulips’ is a standout work from his acclaimed photo paintings
series. The work began as a photograph from ‘Atlas’, Richter’s collection of photographs, newspaper
cuttings and sketches assembled from the 1960s. This original image of a boquet of yellow tulips in a
green vase is seemingly rendered through chiaroscuro as a spotlight appears to highlight the buds.

Richter projected the photograph onto a canvas and began painting accordingly, staying true to the
original image’s colours. The artist’s mechanical process of tracing a photographic image
nonetheless produced an abstract image. A characteristic technique of Richter’s which echoes an
unfocused camera lens, the artist blurred the image, allowing light and colour to blend in this
visually captivating still life.

Richter built on this tension between mechanical and painterly image further in 2017 with ‘Tulips
(P7)’, a Diasec‐mounted giclée print on aluminium. Not only does this facsimile maintain the
integrity of the original painting, but it is a continuation of the issues the work initiated. Beginning as
a photographic image that was abstracted through paint, the image is thus converted back into a
photograph, effectively abstracting it one step further.