15. Nov. 1996 (Teil des verworfenen Abstrakten Bildes 802-4). 1996.
Oil on canvas, firmly laid on a backing cardboard.
Signed and dated in lower left of backing. Lower right monogrammed. Inscribed "8" on the reverse. 23.4 x 24 cm (9.2 x 9.4 in). Backing cardboard: 42 x 29,6 cm (16,5 x 11,6 in).
[AW].

• Fragment of the destroyed painting "Abstraktes Bild" from 1994.
• Richter places the emphasis of his works on the process of creation rather than the result.
• By cutting it up, each piece becomes a new work of his so-called planned spontaneity.
• In 2020, Richter declared his artistic oeuvre complete.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Northern Germany.

LITERATURE: Cf. online catalogue raisonné, no. 802-4.
Hans-Ulrich Obrist (ed.), Gerhard Richter. 100 Bilder, Ostfildern-Ruit 1996, no p. (color illu.).

"Accepting that I can't plan anything. Every consideration I make about the construction of a picture is wrong, and if the execution succeeds, it is only because I partially destroy it or because it works anyway [..]. The only consolation is that I can say to myself that I made the pictures anyway, even if they do what they want, against my will, but still somehow come into being [..]."
Gerhard Richter, quoted from: Armin Zweite, Sehen, Reflektieren, Erscheinen. Anmerkungen zum Werk von Gerhard Richter, in: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (ed.), Gerhard Richter, Düsseldorf 2005, p. 83.