This orb exemplifies Gerhard Richter’s inquiry into the way our vision and understanding (of art and the world) operates, and the way they can be affected by the visual information put before us. This perfect polished steel sphere mirrors space, yet distorts the world it reflects.

Gerhard Richter's Ema (Nude on a Staircase), is a photograph of a Richter painting by the same name (at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany), which itself was painted from a slightly blurred Polaroid taken of his then-wife, Ema.

made date c. 1935 date approximated based on Changing NY series no evidence of it being in that series