Barron’s Penta blog is skeptical of Citi’s Jonathan Binstock’s aggressive but very sensible prediction that Richter will soon take his place alongside Warhol, Picasso, Koons and Hirst:

“Richter has been besting himself regularly at many auction levels since the heights of 2007 and 2008. In the past five years his auction price has approximately quadrupled.”

In February 2007, a record of $5.5 million was reached for the Richter work, Abstraktes Bild(1991). Binstock now says that same work “might be valued around $12 million. Between February 2007 and November 2011, Richter achieved no less than five record prices at auction, making a steeply escalating tear through the Great Recession that seems unrivaled by any other artists.” That is impressive. Even his smaller works, in the hard hit mid market of the $1 million to $5 million range, are “defying gravity in more ways than one.” […]

“While Richter still has a long way to go in order to compete with his fellow colleagues in terms of total market volume and record prices, it is clear that he is in the process of being catapulted to a rare and illustrious realm of authority where market forces combine with art history to shed light on the future of one of our grandest cultural traditions.”

Citi Private Bank: Artist Gerhard Richter the Next Picasso (Barron’s)