Paul Celan: wir schöpften die Finsternis leer, wir fanden das Wort, das den Sommer heraufkam: Blume (We scooped the darkness empty, we found the word that ascended summer: flower)

Anselm Kiefer

In his somber, epic paintings and sculptures, Anselm Kiefer explores myth, memory, German culture, and the aftermath of World War II. The artist has made totemic landscape scenes and funereal sculptures with a dense materiality that suggests the accretion of history: He has incorporated lead, books, concrete, branches, ashes, and clothing—often burned or treated with acid—into works that reference Paul Celan’s post-Holocaust poetry, the Black Forest, Nazi architecture, and a variety of other references. Kiefer has exhibited in cities including New York, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Paris, and Los Angeles, and his work belongs in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, the Guggenheim Museum, and many other institutions. In addition to his paintings and sculptures, Kiefer has produced installations, artist’s books, and works on paper such as drawings, watercolors, collages, and altered photographs.