Gerhard Richter skyscape has £9m-£12m price tag 

How contemporary artist's work is highlight of London sale spanning paintings by old masters to post-modern abstraction 

Gerhard Richter's 'Wolken (Fenster) (Clouds (Window))'.

The challenge of establishing a legitimate place for painting in the post-photo age has been taken up by lots of artists in many different ways. Now 88, Gerhard Richter, one of the greatest contemporary painters in the world today, has during a long career created a large number of overpainted photographs. 

His Wolken (Fenster) (Clouds (Window)) comes up at Sotheby's next week with an estimate of £9m-£12m. The auctioneers say this immersive skyscape reinvents the sublime landscapes of predecessors like Constable, Turner and Caspar David Friedrich, channelling their work into a new contemporary vision.