Lesende

Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden in 1932. In 1994 he painted Lesende (Reading) which I had the privilege of viewing in the San Francisco MOMA. At first, second, and third glance, you would swear this piece is out of place on a floor full of paintings. Lesende resembles a handsome photograph of a twenty-something woman, surely a muse by the strange and subtle beauty she carries, reading a newspaper. The Reader is in fact Richter's wife as I later learned. It shocked me to learn it is a painting. This is a painting so realistic, so finely done that I couldn't help but stare until all else drifted out of my mind. Many of the paintings I enjoyed that day were evocative and impressive but this piece seemed impossible. The talent necessary to create this painting is staggering.
The image itself settles in with a spirit of certainty. There are moments when I look around at a room or at a person and all things freeze still and even in the very moment I am aware that my mind is attaching this glimpse to an entire chapter of my life. This painting proves that such a fleeting, rare, and ethereal awareness can be captured by a painting.