This three paintings are parts of a series of Gerhard Richter's works, devoted to Ulrike Meinhof. They were made after the newspaper photograph of Meinhof's dead body (close up of a head). Meinhof, a member of the Red Army Faction (terrorist organization) presumably committed a suicide in prison.

These works are devoted to the theme of death. They are (as well as other Richter's works) exploiting photographic images. Therefore this medium should somehow change/add to the meaning of the subject. How exactly these paintings differ from the initial photograph? Why were they made 10 years after Meinhof's death? How did time distance altered the view on the subject? These are three very close in terms of depiction works: how they differ except the size; why was it important for Richter to study this photograph in different sizes and complete all three works; why are they not constituting a triptych?

This work is connected to politics, radicalism, terrorism and their borders, questions of suicides in prison; but due to the subject, it also can be connected to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (a cognitive bias, connected to the frequency of incoming information) and media coverage; how death and photograph are connected; how painting and photograph are connected; it it ethical to depict terrorist; is this work showing Richter's political position?

#hauntology #past #death #photography #painting #media #politics #history