# Daniel Richter artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/daniel-richter/
Profile generated: 2026-05-10T13:30:09.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: German
- Movements: Contemporary German painting
- Common media: Oil painting, Graphic design (posters, record sleeves)

## About Daniel Richter

Daniel Richter (born 1962, Lütjenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) is a German painter recognised for large-scale oil paintings that shift between abstraction and figuration. Based in Berlin, Richter came to prominence in the 1990s after an early career designing posters and record sleeves for musicians. His initial paintings were densely coloured abstractions that drew from graffiti and ornamental patterning. Around 2002, human figures began appearing in his compositions, often sourced from newspaper and history-book imagery and rendered in vivid, artificial colour. His more recent work continues to negotiate the boundary between recognisable subject matter and painterly invention. Richter taught painting at the Universität der Künste Berlin (2004–2006) before joining the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna, where he has been a professor since 2006. He has also designed stage sets for the Salzburg Festival. His work is held by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and he is represented by Thaddaeus Ropac.

## Common works and media

The most commonly encountered works are large-scale oil paintings on canvas, ranging from intensely colourful abstractions produced in the 1990s to figurative compositions that emerged after 2002 and his more recent work blending both approaches. Earlier graphic-design pieces — concert posters and album-cover art — also surface in collectible contexts. Stage designs and related production material from his Salzburg Festival commissions may appear in specialised sales.

## Market and appraisal context

Daniel Richter has a deep and well-established secondary market. Appraisily's auction-record index tracks 235 lots, of which 159 carry realized prices, spanning from November 2003 through April 2026. Liquidity is healthy: 33 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 28 in the prior period, indicating sustained and growing auction supply. Price dispersion is very wide — from €70 for minor works on paper at regional German houses to a recorded maximum of €6,300,000 — reflecting the broad range of media, scale, and period in Richter's output. The interquartile range (P25 €650 to P75 €100,000) and median of €11,430 show that mid-tier lots cluster in the four-to-five-figure band, while top-tier large-scale oil paintings from the artist's most sought-after periods command six and seven figures. Blue-chip houses — Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, and Bonhams — account for the highest prices, with Christie's alone achieving £69,850 for a 120 cm oil on canvas ("Mappez", October 2025) and £20,320 for a smaller oil on canvas the same week. Leading German houses Grisebach and Auktionshaus am Grunewald provide regional liquidity, frequently offering works in the three-to-four-figure range. Works on paper, prints, and graphic-design ephemera trade at the lower end of the range, typically between €70 and €950.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Daniel Richter has a deep and well-established secondary market. Appraisily's auction-record index tracks 235 lots, of which 159 carry realized prices, spanning from November 2003 through April 2026. Liquidity is healthy: 33 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 28 in the prior period, indicating sustained and growing auction supply. Price dispersion is very wide — from €70 for minor works on paper at regional German houses to a recorded maximum of €6,300,000 — reflecting the broad range of media, scale, and period in Richter's output. The interquartile range (P25 €650 to P75 €100,000) and median of €11,430 show that mid-tier lots cluster in the four-to-five-figure band, while top-tier large-scale oil paintings from the artist's most sought-after periods command six and seven figures. Blue-chip houses — Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, and Bonhams — account for the highest prices, with Christie's alone achieving £69,850 for a 120 cm oil on canvas ("Mappez", October 2025) and £20,320 for a smaller oil on canvas the same week. Leading German houses Grisebach and Auktionshaus am Grunewald provide regional liquidity, frequently offering works in the three-to-four-figure range. Works on paper, prints, and graphic-design ephemera trade at the lower end of the range, typically between €70 and €950.

### Appraisal notes

An Appraisily appraisal of a Daniel Richter work would cross-reference the artist's 235-lot auction history with the specific object's characteristics. Key inputs include: (1) high-resolution photographs to confirm attribution and assess condition; (2) exact dimensions and medium — large oils on canvas (100 cm+) from the figurative period post-2002 or the peak abstract period 1999–2001 carry the strongest comparable profile; (3) signature, date, and inscription details; (4) provenance chain, ideally linking to primary-market purchase from Thaddaeus Ropac or another recognised gallery, or to a prior sale at Christie's, Sotheby's, or Phillips; (5) exhibition and publication history, which can materially affect value for works shown at museum retrospectives; and (6) edition details for prints and multiples, where serigraphs such as the 2019 "Farbserigraphien" series are priced well below unique paintings. Comparable lots are selected from the same medium, approximate dimensions, and period, with emphasis on recent realised prices from blue-chip houses. The wide spread between P25 (€650) and P75 (€100,000) means that medium, scale, and period placement are the primary valuation differentiators.

### Valuation factors

- Scale is the single strongest price differentiator: large oils on canvas (100 cm+) consistently achieve five-to-seven-figure results, while smaller works on paper and prints cluster below €1,000
- Period matters — peak abstract works from c. 1999–2001 and figurative canvases from c. 2002–2008 tend to achieve the highest prices at major houses
- Medium — unique oil paintings command a substantial premium over serigraphs, posters, and other graphic-design ephemera
- Auction-house tier — lots sold at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips realise significantly higher prices than those at regional German houses, partly reflecting curation and estimate calibration
- Provenance through Thaddaeus Ropac or prior museum exhibition strengthens buyer confidence and price
- Condition and freshness-to-market: works not seen at auction in over a decade attract competitive bidding
- Multi-currency exposure (EUR, GBP, USD) means exchange-rate fluctuations can affect cross-market comparability

### Collector notes

- If you own a large-scale oil painting by Richter (particularly from the late-1990s abstract period or the early-2000s figurative turn), the work likely falls in the tens of thousands to potentially millions of euros at the top houses — a formal appraisal is strongly recommended before any sale
- Works on paper and prints (serigraphs, posters, record sleeves) typically trade in the €70–€1,500 range at regional auction houses; these are accessible entry points but have limited upside compared to unique paintings
- Consignment at a blue-chip house (Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips) will generally yield a higher result for important oils, but expect longer lead times and higher commission structures
- Richter's stylistic shift around 2002 is well documented; works that bridge the abstract and figurative phases can attract particular interest from collectors focused on that transition
- Buyers should verify provenance carefully — the artist's poster and record-sleeve output is visually related to but distinct from his fine-art paintings, and misattribution can occur

### Market caveats

- The recorded maximum price of €6,300,000 likely represents an exceptional large-scale museum-quality canvas and should not be treated as typical; the median of €11,430 is a more representative central tendency
- Many recent lots at regional German houses lack published price-realised figures, which may understate or overstate the true transaction level for mid-tier works
- Some auction catalogues list Richter's birth place as Eutin while others and the artist's own gallery cite Lütjenburg; this discrepancy does not affect value but collectors should be aware of it
- Print and multiple editions (e.g., the 2019 Farbserigraphien series) are priced in an entirely different segment from unique paintings and should not be used as comparables for oil-on-canvas works
- Currency differences across houses (EUR, GBP, USD) mean that direct price comparisons require conversion and may not reflect local market conditions

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/daniel-richter/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-daniel-richter-rasende-irre-2001-256-c-5456fd5d3f
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-daniel-richter-1960-figurati-8552-c-f004ad645f
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-daniel-richter-b-1962-untitled-crazy-bird-painted-in-2006-248-c-6923b4d63e
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-daniel-richter-2-arbeiten-ohne-titel-2019-farbserigraphien-auf-velin-je-1246-c-1a61eb7c9f
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-daniel-richter-397-c-1809a1a753

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum records, library authority files, and artist-representation sources with auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Daniel Richter, this page draws on holdings data from the Museum of Modern Art, authority records from the Getty ULAN, VIAF, the Library of Congress, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, together with gallery and biographical information from Thaddaeus Ropac.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q67231
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Richter_(artist)
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500330498
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/187366852/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2003076066
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/28772
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/218145
- Daniel Richter / Thaddaeus Ropac: http://www.daniel-richter.com/