This book, which contains a large number of illustrations, presents the whole of Kiefer’s artistic career by following the theme of the Himmel-Herde (Heaven-Earth) dialectic. This is expressed in many paintings through the motif of the palette, seen as an angelic instrument mediating between heaven and earth, and through the motif of monuments and architecture which, like the pyramid, have been the expression and vehicle of religion and power in communities throughout history.

Anselm Kiefer, born in Donaueschingen in Germany, in the spring of 1945, at the end of the darkest period in his country’s history, is one of the leading figures on the international art scene. Since the end of the Sixties, his oeuvre has featured paintings, collages, photographs and works in book form, in which he dramatically evokes an iconography that is critically rooted in Germany’s history and culture, from the heroic exploits of the Middle Ages to the year of National Socialism.

This book, which contains a large number of illustrations, presents the whole of Kiefer’s artistic career by following the theme of the Himmel-Herde (Heaven-Earth) dialectic. This is expressed in many paintings through the motif of the palette, seen as an angelic instrument mediating between heaven and earth, and through the motif of monuments and architecture which, like the pyramid, have been the expression and vehicle of religion and power in communities throughout history.

A Tribute to Anselm Kiefer

Massimo Cacciari

The Destiny of Art: Anselm Kiefer

Germano Celant

Works

Appendix

List of Works

Solo Exhibitions

Selected bibliography