20 ye­ars of the Ger­hard Rich­ter Ar­chi­ve: In­sights in­to the ar­tis­tic uni­ver­se

The Al­ber­ti­num of the Staat­li­che Kunst­samm­lun­gen Dres­den is de­di­ca­ting an an­ni­ver­sa­ry ex­hi­bi­ti­on to the Ger­hard Rich­ter Ar­chi­ve, which will be on dis­play from 13 De­cem­ber 2025 to 15 March 2026. En­tit­led “20 ye­ars of the Ger­hard Rich­ter Ar­chi­ve. Works, Ma­te­ri­als, Cu­rio­si­ties”, vi­si­tors are in­vi­ted to im­mer­se them­sel­ves in the histo­ry and spe­cial fea­tures of the ar­chi­ve. The ex­hi­bi­ti­on ho­no­urs the in­itia­tor Mar­tin Roth and high­lights Rich­ter’s spe­cial con­nec­tion to Dres­den, which ul­ti­m­ate­ly led to the crea­ti­on of the ar­chi­ve.

Sin­ce 2006, the ar­chi­ve has be­en coll­ec­ting ex­ten­si­ve ma­te­ri­al on the life and work of the ar­tist. In ad­di­ti­on to art­works, the­re are ca­ta­lo­gues, mo­no­graphs, pos­ters, in­vi­ta­ti­on cards, leaf­lets and num­e­rous, of­ten cu­rious ar­chi­ve items such as no­vels, child­ren’s books, toys, matches, tex­ti­les, mu­sic — even a cof­fee ser­vice de­si­gned by Rich­ter in 1992. The an­ni­ver­sa­ry ex­hi­bi­ti­on pro­vi­des in­sights in­to pre­vious­ly un­pu­blished tre­asu­res for the first time, in­clu­ding in­vi­ta­ti­on cards wi­th jel­ly ba­bies and bal­loons as well as a coll­ec­tion ca­ta­lo­gue on wheels. It paints a vi­vid pic­tu­re of the re­cep­ti­on and di­ver­si­ty of Rich­ter’s art and ta­kes vi­si­tors right in­to the cos­mos of this ex­tra­or­di­na­ry ar­tis­t’s ar­chi­ve.