Name: Seestück I
Brand: Gerhard Richter
Rating: 5 (231 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Gerhard Richter’s Seestück I (signed) is estimated to be worth between £13,000 and £20,000. This lithograph print, created in 1969, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 27%. This work has an impressive auction history, having been sold 21 times since its initial sale in May 2003. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £4,465 in December 2020 to £16,075 in April 2023. The average annual growth rate is 27% and the edition size of this artwork is limited to 150.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

April 2023

Christie's New York

United States

March 2021

Christie's New York

United States

December 2020

Phillips London

United Kingdom

September 2020

Galerie Kornfeld

Germany

December 2018

Sotheby's New York

United States

December 2018

Van Ham Fine Art Auctions

Germany

November 2018

Wright

United States

Meaning & Analysis

Seestück I is a signed 1969 lithographic print by German artist Gerhard Richter. Issued in a limited edition of 150, it presents an archetypal example of Richter’s photorealistic approach to painting: a so-called ‘photo painting’ of a thalassic landscape scene. It is part of the Atlas series.

Marking a departure from the non-referential exploration of formal artistic concerns seen in works such as Schattenbild I (1968) and Schattenbild II (1968), and Richter’s ‘shadow paintings’ more generally, Seestück I constitutes an important meeting between the acclaimed German artist and another cornerstone of the contemporary: landscape painting. Depicting a cold, grey sea and an horizon line, with this image Richter reminds the viewer that abstraction is as much a product of the natural world as that of technology. Resembling a photograph, this piece is stunning in its granular detail, and a foremost example of the artist’s ‘blur’ technique.

The work’s indeterminacy constantly refers us to photographic technologies; yet the minutiae of Richter’s brushstrokes, barely visible yet hauntingly palpable, evoke not only a desire to record life as it is, but to create a unique, singular image that could only be produced by the human hand. Commenting on his ‘blur’ technique, Richter once said: ‘I blur things so that they do not look artistic or craftsmanlike but technological, smooth and perfect. I blur things to make all the parts a closer fit. Perhaps I also blur out the excess of unimportant information.’