Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) was born in Dresden, Germany. He studied art at the Dresden Hochschule für Bildende Künste from 1951 to 1956, with mural painting as his main course. In 1959, he visited documenta II, held in Kassel, Germany, an experience that inspired him to alter his artistic trajectory. After his escape from East Germany in 1961, he completed a second course of study at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. Since the 1960s, Richter's critically acclaimed and hugely popular work has been the subject of major museum retrospectives worldwide, and features in public and private collections internationally. Gerhard Richter lives and works in Cologne, Germany.