The major retrospective of Gerhard Richter (born 1932) held at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris amasses together his most significant works from his 1962 painting Tisch (Table) up until his official retirement from painting in 2017. As such, the retrospective is near summative , perhaps appropriately so inasmuch as the artist is now entering his mid 90s.

This commissioned essay, published in Burlington Contemporary, is an extended review of the Paris retrospective. One theme tackled by the review is that the longstanding separation made between Richter's photorealist paintings and the various modes of abstract painting he deploys is more complex than initially apparent; The German word "bild" often used by Richter can translate both into "picture" and "painting," thereby lending an ambiguity to his work.