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To defend painting: One has to believe in what one is doing, one has to commit oneself inwardly, in order to do painting. Once obsessed, one ultimately carries it to the point of believing that one might change human beings through painting. But if one lacks this passionate commitment, there is nothing left to do. Then it is best to leave it alone. For basically painting is pure idiocy.

— Gerhard Richter The Daily Practice of Painting, Writings (1962)

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More quotes by Gerhard Richter

Picturing things, taking a view, is what makes us human; art is making sense and giving shape to that sense. It is like the religious search for God.

I like everything that has no style: dictionaries, photographs, nature, myself and my paintings. (Because style is violence, and I am not violent).

Doubt and belief in painting (2003)

I would rather paint the victims than the killers.. .When Warhol painted the killers, I painted the victims. The subjects were of poor people, banal poor dogs.

Doubt and belief in painting (2003)

My concern is never art, but always what art can be used for.

The Daily Practice of Painting, Writings (1962)

Art is the highest form of hope.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Gerhard Richter (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.