Gerhard Richter: Annunciation After Titian

This limited-edition print by Gerhard Richter is based on his 1973 painting Annunciation After Titian, which is in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, and was inspired by Titian’s Annunciation (c. 1535). Richter first encountered the Renaissance masterpiece in 1972 at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, when he represented West Germany at the 36th Biennale di Venezia. The following year, working from a postcard reproduction of the painting he purchased, he created a cycle of five blurred paintings that progressively dissolve the archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary into a near-monochromatic haze. Published in 2015 by Heni Editions, this print reproduces the first painting in the cycle and was included in Titian / Gerhard Richter: Heaven on Earth, a 2018–19 exhibition that united Titian’s work with Richter’s at Palazzo Te in Mantua, Italy.