Gerhard Richter To Sell €1 Million Worth of Art to House the Homeless
The German artist has put up 18 works for sale to raise money to buy 100 homes
The German artist has put up 18 works for sale to raise money to buy 100 homes
German artist Gerhard Richter has donated 18 of his artworks to fund the building of 100 homes for the homeless in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state. The region currently has 25,000 people listed as homeless. The artworks are expected to fetch more than EUR€1 million which will go towards a project called the Housing First Fund.
The artworks consist of three sets of 2015 abstract, colour offsets from the artist’s ‘Cage f.ff’ series, priced at EUR€420,000. They are available to bid on through Düsseldorf’s fiftyfifty gallery. The gallery has a history of renting to the homeless in Düsseldorf, and is also linked to a local magazine for homeless people. This is the first time they have been able to extend their reach beyond the city.
A previous donation by the artist to a pilot scheme in Düsseldorf in 2015 allowed the gallery to house 53 people. Meanwhile the artist’s fundraising this year will also be bolstered by EUR€424,000 in state funds.
Richter is one of the country’s wealthiest figures, with a fortune estimated at EUR€700 million. He was a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy until 1993, but has since relocated to Cologne. You can listen to critic Robert Storr on Richter’s work over here.
