A Life Shaped by Division: The Early Years and Artistic Formation of Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter’s story is inextricably linked to the fractured history of 20th-century Germany. Born in Dresden in 1932, his childhood unfolded under the shadow of a rising National Socialist regime. This formative period, marked by displacement – his family moved several times during the war years – instilled within him a profound sense of uncertainty and a questioning spirit that would permeate his artistic practice for decades to come. The idyllic landscapes of his early upbringing in Reichenau and Walte…