Around the time of his landmark retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2002 Richter began producing a series of three-dimensional glass works that stemmed from a group of seminal sketches from 1965–1967. Sieben Stehende Scheiben is significant for being the first iteration in this series. Filtering, refracting, and inflecting the environment, the seven panes of glass engage the viewer in a physical and psychological discourse about painting and representation.