The Overwhelming Intensity of Anselm Kiefer in Amsterdam

There is something truly overwhelming about Anselm Kiefer’s work. In the very first room of the grand exhibition curated by the artist in Amsterdam, I am seized by a sensation that goes far beyond mere observation. It is felt on the skin and within the depths of memory. Faced with his monumental canvases, where the material appears to have been forged by fire and ruin, it is impossible not to feel the weight of history, the echo of ashes, the persistence of both destruction and creation.

The exhibition, organized by the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum, establishes an unexpected dialogue between Kiefer and Van Gogh, two artists separated by time yet united by a brutal intensity in their confrontation with the world. This connection is forged not only through the emotional resonance or the materiality of their brushstrokes and textures, but also by a symbolic path that draws them together.

Early in his career, Kiefer followed in Van Gogh’s footsteps, traveling through the same regions of the Netherlands and France where the Dutch painter sought refuge and inspiration. Along his journeys, he absorbed the spirit of the landscapes that shaped Van Gogh—golden wheat fields, turbulent skies, and the constant presence of the earth as a witness to time.

Within the halls of the Van Gogh Museum, this connection materializes almost magically. On one side are Van Gogh’s wheat fields, where color bursts forth with life and energy; on the other, Kiefer’s monumental canvases, where that same earth appears to have been scorched, where matter decays and is reborn. What represented an affirmation of life for Van Gogh becomes, for Kiefer, the resurrection of memory—a kind of archaeology of what remains. Time, for both artists, is an inescapable element, whether in the vibrant moment captured by Van Gogh or in the eternal cycle of destruction and reconstruction that Kiefer enacts in his work.

Yet, Kiefer’s art is not confined to history and landscape. His work is permeated by literature and alchemy. He draws from the poetry of Paul Celan, Ingeborg Bachmann, and Friedrich Hölderlin—poets marked by pain, exile, and the endeavor to give shape to the ineffable. His paintings seem to carry hidden verses beneath layers of lead and dust, as if the poetry cannot be read, but only felt.

And then there is alchemy—not merely as a metaphor, but as a method and an obsession. Like the ancient alchemists, Kiefer transforms raw materials into symbols of the life cycle: lead, heavy and inert yet yearning for gold; straw, reminiscent of wheat and the season of harvest; and fire, which purifies and destroys. He is an alchemist in his own right, conducting visual experiments that challenge matter and its transience.

Wandering through this exhibition is like traversing a battlefield of both devastation and rebirth, where each work bears scars, buried memories, and open wounds. Yet, at the same time, there is beauty in the devastation—a dark poetry that invites one to confront the past and, perhaps, to glean insights about the present.

Kiefer makes no concessions. He does not soften the viewer’s gaze. However, there is something profoundly human in his work—a compelling invitation to face, reflect upon, and ultimately transform what we see.

Anslem Kiefer's Where Have All the Flowers Gone can be experienced until 9th June. Don't miss it!

Sapiens Travel - DMC offers a special program covering both the Van Gogh and the Stedelijk Museums with a specialist guide on art and Kiefer's work.