Gerhard Richter (*1932) is certainly one of the most important artists of our time. His works are featured in all of the large museums and ipreeminent collections around the world. Yet these kinds of superlatives hardly do justice to the artist’s work. This publication features more than eighty works from first-rate private collections, including the artist’s own, and thus provides a concise overview of a career spanning over forty years—which not only reflects the history of postwar Germany, but also the medium of painting.Richter’s incredibly complex work oscillates between paintings bordering on Photorealism and large, abstract compositions of captivatingly expressive color and technical perfection. Yet his work is always centered on painting itself, which is asserted in many different ways, confidently holding up its own reality for comparison to the actual world.  (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2136-3)  Exhibition schedule: Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, January 19–April 27, 2008   National Gallery Complex, Edinburgh, November 1, 2008–January 4, 2009   Albertina, Vienna, January 24–May 3, 2009   MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, May 16–August 16, 2009