Felsenlandschaft 1984

Gerhard Richter made this watercolor painting, titled "Felsenlandschaft," or "Rocky Landscape," at an unknown date. It appears to be an abstract take on landscape painting, and as such asks us to consider what landscape means in modern culture. Richter was a young man in post-war Germany, and he came of age as an artist during a time when German identity was being questioned. This piece resonates with a sense of searching for meaning in a world without solid ground. The landscape is a common trope, and it references German Romanticism, but Richter doesn't latch onto the past uncritically. He re-interprets it. Historians look at the context in which art is made, the prevailing social and political attitudes, the market and institutions through which art is distributed. All of these shape artistic production and reception. By considering these factors, we can begin to understand art not as an isolated phenomenon, but as a reflection of the society that produces it.