ANSELM KIEFER’S WASSERFARBEN PREMIERE IN BERLIN
Anselm Kiefer is one of the most remarkable contemporary artists. For the first time, his watercolours will be shown in Berlin. Beginning on 12 September 2025, Bastian Gallery will present the exhibition »Wasserfarben« featuring 21 works by the artist.
Twenty-seven years after the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York devoted a comprehensive exhibition to his works on paper, and following exhibitions in Paris and most recently at the Nolde Museum in Seebüll, Kiefer’s watercolours now find their moment in Berlin.
Kiefer’s works explore human existence and the cyclical nature of history. They are inspired by literature, philosophy, natural and occult sciences, mythology, legends, and religion. Poetry often stands at the center of his artistic practice. Kiefer himself has stated that “poems are the world.” Through emblematic inscriptions, he integrates poetry directly into his visual language. The transient seems to triumph over the illusion of permanence. Becoming and decay, both in nature and humanity, are key themes in Kiefer’s imaginative landscapes. Their essence speaks through titles and inscriptions such as ›Fugit amor‹, ›Not yet‹ and ›Storm of Roses‹. The topography of these watercolours follows the paths of geography and history, but also of myth and fairy tale. They are spaces of recollection and intuition, where the visible becomes a trace, and the moment a kind of echo.
Anselm Kiefer was born in 1945 in Donaueschingen. He has lived and worked near Paris for many years. In Germany, he has been awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the German National Prize. In France, his works are on permanent display in major public institutions such as the Louvre and the Panthéon. In 2025, museums in Europe, Asia, and the United States including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Royal Academy in London, Nijo Castle in Kyoto, and the Saint Louis Art Museum present extensive exhibitions of his work.
»Wasserfarben« marks Kiefer’s seventh solo exhibition at Bastian Gallery and his first in Berlin devoted entirely to watercolour. A catalogue has been published to accompany the exhibition, with texts by Heiner Bastian, Christian Ring, and Peter-Klaus Schuster.