Candle: Gerhard Richter's Christmas spirit burns bright

A bright white candle flame burns in a coolly spartan atmosphere. It might be a monk’s cell or a Lutheran church; the enlargement of detail in this painting by Gerhard Richter is such that we can’t be sure where it is set. It is a purified image, a candle that absorbs all attention. It makes me think of a religious photograph on a 1970s Christmas card. Richter often paints the symbols of Christian faith, including Cologne cathedral, in a highly objective way. Here, the candle – associated with church, prayers and, in this season, carols – becomes more religious, more emotive, than it might in a conventional Christmas image. Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht …
Illustration: Photograph: Gerhard Richter/Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden