Richter portraits to go on show

Richter's portraits based on Kennedy's assassination will be reunited for the first time Enlarge Image

Portraits inspired by the assassination of US president John F Kennedy are to be united in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

Gerhard Richter Portraits, featuring 35 of the artist's key works, will go on show at the London gallery in February.

Richter's portraits based on Kennedy's 1963 assassination will be one of the highlights, the gallery said.

Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, described Richter as a "master painter of our time".

Richter is widely regarded as one of the world's leading contemporary artists.

His work from the early 1960s has moved between photographically-derived imagery and brightly coloured abstract painting.

The exhibition, which opens on 26 February and runs to 31 May, will show Richter's works dating from his early career to the present.

It includes early black-and-white paintings made from magazine photographs, works based on private snapshots, an installation of his celebrated series 48 Portraits, and a never previously exhibited portrait of his daughter Ella.

Mr Nairne said: "Gerhard Richter's portraits offer a wonderful opportunity for many visitors to see these outstanding works together for the first time."