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I did not come here [out of communist German Democratic Republic, to West-Germany] to get away from 'materialism'; here [in West –Germany] its dominance is far more total and more mindless. I came to get away from the criminal 'idealism' of the Socialists (quote circa 1962).

— Gerhard Richter Doubt and belief in painting (2003)

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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.