Born in Dresden in 1932, Gerhard Richter studied wall-painting at the socialist Dresdner Akademie, before settling in Dusseldorf in 1961. It was here that he began painting from photographic sources, a method which by his own admission allowed him to make a stand against the academies and the oppressive prototypes of the time, from which he had to free himself to find his own innovative creative style. Central to his work is a strong set of values and ideas which throughout his career he has expressed in notes and writings. In these texts he views his work and his surroundings, reflecting on the spiritual basis of his paintings, on his own role as artist, and on the nature of art itself. This book presents a selection of these writings, accompanied by illustrations of pictures from both private collections and from the studio.