Gerhard Richter, Cologne Cathedral Stained Glass Window, 2007, colored glass.  Cologne Cathedral, Cologne

I love finding intersections between modern and contemporary art with the great movements or periods of the past.  Today, in honor of Gerhard Richter’s 80th birthday, I’d like to share one of his truly beautiful and inspiring works: the Cologne Cathedral Stained Glass Window, a combination of computer generated squares of color randomly arranged into an abstract composition mixed with the grandeur of Gothic tracery windows.  One fun anecdote is that one of the city’s cardinals refused to attend the opening because he would have preferred the windows to include figural representations of 20th century Christian martyrs (and Richter’s atheism may have contributed a little to the cardinals malaise).  The window measures 20 meters or 66 feet high!  Enjoy!

Gerhard Richter, Cologne Cathedral Stained Glass Window, 2007, colored glass.  Cologne Cathedral, Cologne

Gerhard Richter, Cologne Cathedral Stained Glass Window, 2007, colored glass.  Cologne Cathedral, Cologne