Kl. Badende 1996

This is Gerhard Richter's Kl. Badende, translated as Small Bather, though the date of its making remains unknown. Look at those blurred edges, the blending of flesh tones with the warmth of the sepia background. I can imagine Richter in his studio, squinting, maybe stepping back, then lunging forward, brush in hand, to soften a line, or mute a highlight. Richter had an extensive body of work using a variety of styles and techniques, including his iconic blurred paintings, and the making of this piece must have been a process of back and forth between observation and intuition. Each brushstroke could have been a decision, then a revision, a constant negotiation between clarity and abstraction. The haziness evokes a sense of nostalgia, as if glimpsed through a rain-streaked window or remembered from a faded photograph. Richter, like all of us, participates in a conversation with the history of painting. He's winking at Degas and the old masters while asking, 'What can painting still do?'