A show of new works by Gerhard Richter at the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland has been met with some surprise. The German artist, who turned 90 earlier this year, announced his retirement in 2017. 

In the end, he hasn’t been able to stop making art. The room at the Beyeler, conceived by the artist himself, houses “mood,” a new series of 31 small abstract works made by dribbling and pouring glass paint onto paper. The date next to the artist’s signature reveal they were made in January of this year.

They will be accompanied by photographic reproductions of each work, hung in the same room. The contrast is exemplary of Richter’s longstanding interest in the relationship between painted and photographed images. 

The museum is also presenting a selection of Richter’s paintings dating back to the late 1960s alongside works by other major artists in the presentation “Passages: Landscape, Figure, and Abstraction.”

Like all of Fondation Beyeler’s programming for 2022, the show is being staged as part of its 25-year anniversary of when the museum was established by Ernst and Hildy Beyeler in 1997. Other major shows will include a retrospective of Georgia O’Keeffe, closing this Sunday, and another show dedicated to Piet Mondrian.

The room dedicated to Gerhard Richter is open until August 14, 2022. See images of the installation below. 

Gerhard Richter, 8.1.2022 (2) (2022) © Gerhard Richter 2022. Photo by farbanalyse, Cologne.

Gerhard Richter, 5.1.2022 (4) (2022) © Gerhard Richter 2022. Photo by farbanalyse, Cologne.

Gerhard Richter, 10.1.2022 (2) (2022) © Gerhard Richter 2022. Photo by farbanalyse, Cologne.

Gerhard Richter, 9.1.2022 (4) (2022) © Gerhard Richter 2022. Photo by farbanalyse, Cologne.