Gerhard Richter
b. Dresden, Germany, 1932
Annunciation after Titian
1973
Oil on canvas
49 3/8 × 78 7/8 in. (125.5 × 200.2 cm)
Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund, 1994 (94.16)
© Gerhard Richter 2021 (05072021). Photo: Cathy Carver

In the 1960s, Gerhard Richter began to mine both contemporary and historic sources for images to reproduce in his paintings. Annunciation after Titian was inspired by a sixteenth-century painting by Venetian Renaissance artist Titian that depicts the moment when the archangel Gabriel announces the Incarnation to Mary. Richter purchased a postcard after seeing Titian’s painting when he participated in the 1972 Venice Biennale. Back in his studio, Richter created five paintings, each offering a different level of abstraction. While the Hirshhorn’s composition is the most similar to the original, it is not simply a copy, as the overall blur suggests the very impossibility of replicating another artist’s artwork, as well as the challenge of depicting an event that cannot be seen.