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many kites flying in the air on the beacha picture of a picture of a cat in a picture framemany kites flying in the air near a buildinga picture of a picture of a crowd of people in a stadiuman image of a drawing of a bird sitting on top of a piece of paper
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2449 - Gerhard Richter (1932), *Seaside House*, 22 November 1999, o…
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Estimate CHF 20,000 - CHF 30,000
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Description
Gerhard Richter (1932), *Seaside House*, 22 November 1999, oil on photograph, signed and dated, countersigned, counter-dated and titled on the reverse, 15 × 10 cm Provenance: Marian Goodman Gallery, New York Bibliography: Gerhard Richter. The Overpainted Photographs. A Comprehensive Catalogue, vol. 3, 1998–2007, Joe Hage and Hans Ulrich Obrist, London, 2024, p. 48, ill., Gerhard Richter. The Overpainted Photographs. A Comprehensive Catalogue, vol. 6, Index, Joe Hage and Hans Ulrich Obrist, London, 2024, p. 168, ill. ‘Seaside House’ belongs to the major series of ‘Overpainted Photographs’ developed by Gerhard Richter from the late 1980s onwards. By combining painting with small-format photographs—often taken from everyday scenes, travels or his personal surroundings—the artist juxtaposes two modes of representation that occupy a central place in his work. The photographic image, linked to the recording of reality, is partially covered by an abstract pictorial material that disrupts its interpretation without ever erasing it completely. In *Seaside House*, this superimposition creates a visual ambiguity between the space depicted in the photograph and the materiality of the paint applied to its surface. The painterly intervention conceals certain elements whilst revealing others, thereby transforming a familiar image into a new composition. Gesture and chance play an essential role here: the paint does not merely complement the photograph, but introduces an unpredictable element that calls its apparent objectivity into question. This intuitive approach stems from the artist’s rejection of any formal dogma: ‘I obey no intention, no system, no trend; I have neither a programme, nor a style, nor any pretensions. I love uncertainty, the infinite and constant insecurity.’ The act of painting on the photographic print thus becomes the site of an unresolved tension between figuration and abstraction, control and accident, the reproduced image and the pictorial gesture. Created in 1999, *Seaside House* belongs to a particularly prolific period for this practice. That same year, Richter notably developed the cycle of painted photographs that would give rise to the *Firenze* series, continuing his exploration of the possibilities offered by the superimposition of the photographic image and pictorial material. This approach lies at the heart of a body of work now recognised internationally, to which numerous institutions have dedicated major retrospectives, such as the one to be held at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in 2025–2026.
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About the sale Art from the Orient and the Far East – Paintings and sculptures
Auction location
Auction time 09/23/2026 at 10:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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