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In the transfixing documentary Gerhard Richter Painting, one of the world's most famous living painters drags a giant squeegee across a giant canvas. Huge walls of primary colors cover the entire field of view, overlapping and mixing in mysterious ways. At one point in the film, a yellow spot of paint Richter didn't notice shows up in one of his paintings, and he chuckles. He didn't expect to see the color there, but he likes it. (Watch the exclusive clip above to see Richter's artistic process in action.)

The documentary, directed by German filmmaker Corinna Belz, travels to theatres across the U.S. after screenings this week at New York's Film Forum. On screen, 80-year-old Richter comes across as a kindly grandfather who just happens to be one of the biggest names in art. He doesn't have a compelling made-for-TV life story like bad-boy artist Jackson Pollock, who flung paint onto canvases on the floor while battling alcoholism and eventually dying tragically in a car crash. Nor does Richter have a constant circus of celebrities surrounding him the way that Andy Warhol did, or a dramatic backdrop like Warhol's legendary Factory; instead, Richter is portrayed working in his clean, minimal studio in Cologne, Germany. Gerhard Richter Painting is, nonetheless, completely spellbinding because it focuses on the process of painting itself, rather than biography or a compelling backstory. Much of the film's 97 minutes is spent portraying Richter actually painting, with a refreshing lack of talking heads and the other usual tropes of documentary cinema.

Gerhard Richter Painting's director, Corinna Belz, also made a 30-minute short film about Richter in 2007 called Gerhard Richter's Window, which documented the incredible stained glass work created by Richter for the Cologne Cathedral. In Gerhard Richter Painting, she spent nearly two years observing Richter at work in his studio. Instead of just leaving the camera on a tripod and letting him work, Belz uses a hand-held camera to follow Richter's hand as he glides the squeegee across the canvas. The film is a startling close-up on the process of making art, and a rare view into the mind of one of the world's greatest living artists. You can see more glimpses of his work in the trailer below.

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