Davos S., Gerhard Richter

This painting is brutal in her honesty. One can feel wayward winds whipping small, jagged diamonds of snow into soft cheeks, turning them a cherry red.

Richter perfectly renders how the eye loses its sight as snowstorms rage. Of looking over the edge of a mountain and seeing only the blurry haze of other peaks. The moment when mass becomes air. When I look at this painting, I feel the impermanence of all things. I feel alone but protected, somehow; the snow will block all malice.

The sun is belligerent, fighting wind, snow, and fog. Even in the stillness of the paint, the sun’s light is expansive, growing with each glance. The blizzard diffuses his rays here just as it would atop a mountain ridge. Visiting the gallery on a partly sunny day causes the turquoise nebulous haze to morph with the changing light. The sun depicted in dialogue with the sun overhead.

Davos S. has a daughter, Davos, which hangs at the Art Institute of Chicago. In Davos, the sun appears to near its zenith, and its light weaves through each particle of the storm, dissipating its strength. Visibility returns. Davos, however, is a cropped view of Davos S., which conceals the truth. Davos S. makes no pleasantries. She is a piece of yearning. To be amidst the storm. To feel the loneliness, but also the loving shelter it provides. We are all weathering our own storms. Davos S. reminds us to locate our sun, but equally embrace the full fervor of the storm.

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Painting Location: Private Collection

Location Seen: David Zwirner, 537 West 20th Street

Exhibit: Gerhard Richter: Landschaften, May 7⁠—⁠July 10, 2026

This painting is no longer on view. You can interact digitally here.

Today is a special day. It marks the threshold of the 92nd year of life of the individual who shaped, and nurtured, my appreciation of art. In many ways, this Substack would not exist if not for her. This post is dedicated to her.