Photo: Peter Tijhuis.
Anselm Kiefer, one of the world’s leading artists, is the subject of the first major exhibition to ever be jointly presented by the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Anselm Kiefer – Sag mir wo die Blumen sind will run until 9th June 2025.
The exhibition brings together twenty-five works by Anselm Kiefer, including a major new and immersive painterly installation, together with paintings, installations, film and works on paper, across the two museums. The presentation at the Van Gogh Museum demonstrates the enduring influence of Vincent van Gogh on Kiefer’s work. In 1963, Kiefer won a travel scholarship and chose to follow the route taken by Van Gogh, from the Netherlands to Belgium and France. Van Gogh and his work have remained a vital source of inspiration for him. The exhibition presents seven key works by Van Gogh, alongside previously unseen paintings and thirteen early drawings by Kiefer. Paintings, such as Van Gogh’s Wheatfield With Crows (1890) are juxtaposed in the same space as Kiefer’s monumental works of the same theme.
Emilie Gordenker, Director, Van Gogh Museum, said:
“Anselm Kiefer has been engaged with Van Gogh’s work from his early years. Sometimes the inspiration is almost literal, as in the use of sunflowers and the composition of his landscapes. Kiefer’s recent work – displayed here for the first time – shows how Van Gogh continues to make his mark on his work today.”
The presentation at the Stedelijk Museum focuses on Kiefer’s close ties to the Netherlands, particularly the artist’s connection with the museum, which has been pivotal to his career. The Stedelijk acquired Innenraum (1981) and Märkischer Sand (1982) early in the artist’s practice and staged an acclaimed solo exhibition of his work in 1986. This exhibition is not only an unprecedented opportunity to see all the works in the Stedelijk’s collection together, but also a chance to see Kiefer’s more recent paintings and especially two new spatial installations. The titular work Sag mir wo die Blumen sind is an immersive painterly installation, which fills the space around the historic staircase of the museum. The second installation Steigend, steigend, sinke nieder is made from photographs and lead, an important material that recurs throughout Kiefer’s work, alluding to the heavy weight of human history. The exhibition also features films by and about Anselm Kiefer, including the unknown film Noch ist Polen nicht verloren (1989), which he made in Warsaw shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Rein Wolfs, Director, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, said:
“The Stedelijk has a long relationship with Anselm Kiefer and has played an important role in the acceptance of the artist’s work. That connection is expressed in the two special spatial installations on show in our building. It is truly remarkable to see these immersive installations amid several of his iconic works from the 1980s. In this way, Kiefer looks back at the past and towards the future.”
The title of the exhibition Sag mir wo die Blumen sind is taken from the 1955 protest song Where have all the flowers gone by American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, which became famous when Marlene Dietrich performed the song in 1962. Kiefer’s expansive new installation for the Stedelijk Museum Sag mir wo die Blumen sind combines paint and clay with uniforms, dried rose petals and gold, symbolising the cycle of life and death with the human condition and fate of mankind playing a central motif. The flowers of the title are also a reference to the Sunflowers (1889) by Vincent van Gogh and to recent landscapes by Kiefer, which are seen for the first time in the exhibition.
Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945, Donaueschingen, Germany) was born in the closing months of World War II, and as a boy he played in the debris of post-war Germany. In the late 1960s, Kiefer was one of the first German artists to address the country’s fraught history in monumental, acerbic works for which he sustained intense criticism in his homeland. In the Netherlands, his work first gained recognition among collectors and museums like the Stedelijk. Later, Kiefer would be hailed for breaking the silence surrounding Germany’s past. His work reflects on themes such as history, mythology, philosophy, literature, alchemy, and landscape.
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue, published both in English and Dutch. It features essays by Simon Schama and Antje von Graevenitz and a reflection by the artist himself, focussing on his personal fascination with Vincent van Gogh and on the early, positive reception of his work in the Netherlands. The catalogue offers an in-depth exploration of the exhibition through rich illustrations and wide-ranging texts, and sheds new light on the work of one of the most influential artists of our time.
Anselm Kiefer – Sag mir wo die Blumen sind, 7th March – 9th June 2025, Van Gogh Museum + Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
In collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum, Kiefer/Van Gogh will go on display at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, from 28th June – 26th October 2025.
