City Picture Mü (Stadtbild Mü)

Gerhard Richter

1968

Amphibolin paint on canvas

Dallas Museum of Art

“Stadtbild Mü” portrays part of the old city section of Munich, Germany, as viewed from the air. As in nearly all of Gerhard Richter's art, here photography is both the source of and the question posed by the work itself. The original view Gerhard Richter used to create this painting may have been an aerial survey photograph taken before World War II, or perhaps later when the city had been reconstructed. Munich, known for its Oktoberfest and Bavarian charm, was a primary site for the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s and the target of subsequent Allied bombings. Richter leaves certain areas of the canvas simply black, allowing the ima