Anselm Kiefer

About the exhibition

Essence-Eksistence highlights Kiefer’s rich body of paintings, sculptures and installations. The works are often a deep dive into German history, exploring German identity from Romanticism to a Germany in ruins after its defeat in the Second World War.

His practice is woven together from philosophical, religious, scientific and ecological strands of thought, which together offer a contemporary worldview. It draws frequently on other cultural figures, such as the writers Paul Celan and Ingeborg Bachmann.

– Putting together a comprehensive Kiefer exhibition is a delicate undertaking today, and all but impossible without access to a collection of real depth and breadth. Fortunately, we have been granted access to the Grothe Collection, the world’s largest private collection of works by Anselm Kiefer. It was initiated by the German entrepreneur Hans Grothe in close dialogue with Kiefer himself. As a result, the collection has a particular character that brings the viewer close to the artist’s creative process, says Bo Nilsson, Director of Artipelag.

As this is the first time Kiefer is being presented in a major exhibition in Sweden, it takes on a retrospective character, illuminating the artist’s multifaceted output from the 1970s onwards.

– We venture to call the exhibition grand, as it will be the largest we have ever staged in terms of floor area. But above all, it is Kiefer’s artistry and choice of subject matter that are grand; he moves between the present and history, he has long been a defining voice on the global art scene, and he moves freely between many different modes of expression and reference.