While passing by, a woman looks into the distance, then stops short with a tight smile on her lips, finally moving on, her gaze directed downwards.

The three paintings entitled Confrontation 1–3 [CR: 671/1-3] show Gudrun Ensslin, a German terrorist of the Red Army Faction (RAF). The paintings refer to a chronological sequence of photographs, which were taken at Essen prison after Ensslin's arrest in summer 1972. When transforming the photographical source images into paint, Richter cropped the image decisively: whereas the standing Ensslin is captured full length in the photographs, in the paintings only the upper part of her body is depicted – in almost life-size.
In cropping the image, Richter reduces any information about Ensslin's surroundings. He forgoes another detail in addition: in the photograph that shows Ensslin looking directly at the beholder, she carries a number plate in her hand, which corresponds with Richter's original title Gegenüberstellung (= identity parade).

The common bond of the paintings becomes apparent not only through the consistent picture format but also through the unchanging painting technique. Nevertheless, the first picture from the series [CR: 671-1] appears to be softer than the others, since the contrasts are lower and Richter's characteristic blurring is more pronounced. In the middle picture, the smiling face of Ensslin attracts the attention of the beholder. In the third picture [CR: 671-3], with Ensslin looking down, her hair and garments appear to be darker than in the other paintings, seeming to radiate more tranquility than the preceding works.
The film-like sequence transfers movement into the medium of painting, intensified even more by Richter's characteristic technique of blurring. In the first painting of the series in particular, the horizontal brushwork recalls photographic motion blur.

The title describes not only the fact that Gudrun Ensslin is on her way to an identity parade, but it also is about a confrontation with the viewer. Gerhard Richter aims to come face to face with Gudrun Ensslin, the human being rather than the terrorist. She might appear likeable to the beholder; however, with the knowledge about her past this gives way to an ambivalent feeling. Richter also expressed this discrepancy in an interview: "so of course at the time I had no sympathy for the ideas, or for the ideology that these people represented. I couldn't understand, but I was still impressed. Like everyone, I was touched." (Interview with Gregorio Magnani, 1989 in: Gerhard Richter: Text. Writings, Interviews and Letters 1961–2007, Thames & Hudson, London, 2009, p. 221)
Gudrun Ensslin is depicted as a vital young woman, a portrayal underlined by the impression of movement. Her vitality contrasts with her depiction in Hanged [CR: 668], and also with the three representations of the dead Ulrike Meinhof in Dead [CR: 667/1-3] also in the cycle October 18, 1977.

Notes prepared by editorial team