Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer (Germany, 1945). He spent his childhood in Rastatt and studied fine arts in Freiburg im Breisgau, in Karlsruhe under Horst Antes, and in Düsseldorf as a student of Joseph Beuys. He also studied law and French. His practice encompasses painting and monumental sculpture.

He works with materials such as lead, ash, clay, and straw to create textured surfaces rich in symbolism, associated with ideas of devastation and renewal. His work explores history, mythology, and collective memory, with a particular focus on the Holocaust and World War II, and incorporates literary, philosophical, and religious references.

He participated in Documenta in Kassel in 1977, 1982, and 1987, in the Venice Biennale in 1980, and in the Paris Biennale in 1985. In 1984, he exhibited at the Städtische Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf. His work is included in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Louvre, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, the Grothe Collection, and the Deutsche Bank Collection.