Anselm Kiefer Presents New Work at Palazzo Ducale in Venice

German Artist Anselm Kiefer presented a site-specific installation of paintings at the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) in Venice. The artist was Invited by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVE), to present a new body of work that responds to one of the most important spaces in the Palazzo Ducale and to the history of Venice. 

ART

To coincide with the 59th Venice Biennale, the exhibition that takes over the Sala dello Scrutinio and the Sala della Quarantia Civil Nova, opened on 26 March 2022 and will be on see until 29 October 2022.

It sometimes happens that there is a convergence between past and present moments, and as they come together one experiences something of that stillness in the hollow of a wave about to break. Originating in the past but pertaining at bottom to something more than the past, such moments belong as much to the present as to the past, and what they generate is of the utmost importance.
– Anselm Kiefer

Philosophical and literary references have always been central to an understanding of Anselm Kiefer’s work.

Titled “Anselm Kiefer Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce (Andrea Emo)” (These writings, when burned, will finally cast a little light ), from the writings of the Venetian philosopher Andrea Emo (1901-1983). The artist first encountered Emo’s work six years ago and his artistic method has striking parallels with Emo’s philosophical thought.

In the installation in Palazzo Ducale Anselm Kiefer also reflects upon Venice’s unique position between north and south and the interplay of the Orient with the Occident. He sees equally meaningful connections between all these different cultures and the history of Venice, where the words of Goethe’s tragic play , Faust: The Second Part of the Tragedy (1832) still resonate.