“Only poems are real […] They are matter in the abyss of antimatter.”
—Anselm Kiefer

Monumental in scale, Für Gérard de Nerval encompasses many of the key tenets of Kiefer’s rich and accomplished practice. The thickly rendered impasto, almost sculptural in its application, exemplifies Kiefer’s emphasis on the prominence of his materials, and commands an immense physical presence. Laden with metaphor, symbolism, and emotional weight, and deeply interwoven with literary and poetic references, Für Gérard de Nerval is a sublime example of Anselm Kiefer’s profound artistic language, one that is ‘neither linear nor progressive in its development, but cyclical and reflective, mirroring the artist’s view of life and history.ⁱ

El Desdichado

 

The phrase ‘la treille ou le amper à la rose s’allie’ (loosely, in English, translating to: ‘the trellis where the vine combines with the rose’) comes from the sonnet El Desdichado (1854) composed by nineteenth century French poet, translator, and writer Gérard de Nerval. Born in 1808, he was an eccentric and experimental figure of French Romanticism, who placed much significance on the creative potential of dreams and hallucinations, mythology, and romantic melancholy, and whose influence extends from the likes of Marcel Proust to T. S. Eliot (who’s groundbreaking Wasteland epic includes a line from this very poem). In 1958, El Desdichado was translated into German by Romanian-French writer Paul Celan. In his interpretation, this particular phrase ‘la treille ou le amper à la rose s’allie’ is written, ‘Der Wein- und Rosenlaube’ meaning ‘the arbor of vines and roses.’

 

‘Dans la nuit du tombeau, toi qui m’as consolé

Rends-moi le Pausilippe et la mer d’Italie,

La ampe qui plaisait tant à mon cœur désolé,

Et la treille où le pampre à la rose s’allie.’

 

Gib, die du Trost gewußt, der Nacht in meinem Grab

Den Posilip, zurück, gib ihr Italiens Meer,

Der Wein- und Rosenlaube, weis ihr den Weg hierher,

Die meinem Gram geleuchtet, die Blume reich herab.

 

‘In the night of the Tomb, You who comforted me,
give me back Posillipo and the sea of Italy,
the flower that pleased my desolate heart so much,
and the trellis where the Vine-Leaf and the rose unite.’

- excerpt from Gérard de Nerval, El Desdichado

 

A radical innovator of German-language literature, Celan’s work has, from the outset, been a major source of influence for Kiefer. In keeping with the broader philosophical and mythic cycles of eternal recurrence – rebirth and renewal – Celan’s presence in Kiefer’s painting structures the artist’s painterly project in profoundly meaningful ways. A recurrent figure throughout the artist’s practice, ‘Celan’s words become traces of the memories they evoke. As lines of poetry, they are also pieces of drawings. Kiefer places them over dark skies, at the top of very high canvases, giving them a second (material) life. What was once verbal becomes visual […] Celan’s poems have not just been mere inspiration for Kiefer. They are his raw material, to which he gives concrete existence.’ⁱⁱⁱ Kiefer is inspired by Celan’s exploration of the fragility and dissolution of language and the constraints of expression within semantics. Notoriously complex, Celan’s poetry exudes a deep sense of stoic lyricism and profound melancholy, interrogating the viability of the German language in the aftermath of the horrors of the Second World War. In the present work, Kiefer explores the nuances of meaning conveyed in de Nerval’s original poem, and how the overarching themes of love, melancholy, suffering and identity are subtly translated through Celan’s lens.

 

El Desdichado, Gérard de Nerval Lecture par Jean Topart, Archive Ina-Radio France 01/01/1971, Youtube, 1 October 2023

Kiefer and Flowers

 

Flowers are scattered throughout Kiefer’s practice, from boundless fields of poppies, to towering, melancholic sunflowers, the artist lends significant weight to the concept of floriography - the language of flowers - each variety imbued with their own symbolic meaning. Here, the metaphor of the rose, universally emblematic of romantic love, transcends the borders of poetry, imagery and translation. The thickly layered petals of impasto paint, curling outwards with fine, delicate edges, physically protrude – frozen mid-bloom - from the tangled vines and tendrils behind them. The composition itself – a chaotic arrangement of stems and blooms – offers a nod to the long-standing tradition of still life painting. The energy of their display, bursting from the surface of the canvas, recalls the drama of the 17^th Century Dutch old masters, whose spotlit floral arrangements accentuate the flamboyance and the extravagance of their subject matter. The loose, apparently effortless array of luscious yellows, soft blush pinks and streaks of fiery red are depicted in stark contrast to the dark, shadowed background, in a theatrical depiction that celebrates the vibrancy and splendour of their natural forms.

 

A meditation on the intersection between poetry, history, literature and materiality, Für Gérard de Nerval demonstrates Kiefer’s unique ability to coalesce imagery and language in striking visual form. With its multilayered composition – both physically and conceptually – it is a truly compelling example from the artist’s rich and explorative practice.

 

Collector’s Digest

 

• A deeply intellectual artist, Anselm Kiefer’s references and sources of inspiration span philosophy, poetry, theology and science. In the present work Kiefer references a phrase from nineteenth century French writer and eccentric Gérard de Nerval’s sonnet El Desdichado.
   

• The subject of international retrospectives at significant institutions, Kiefer’s critically acclaimed exhibition Fallen Angels recently closed at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence in July 2024. Paintings related to Paul Celan have been included in Kiefer’s recent 2021 presentation at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris and at Thaddeus Ropac’s Pantin Gallery in 2022.
   

• The subject of major international retrospectives at prestigious institutions including the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Kiefer’s career spans five decades. His work can be found in prestigious permanent collections including the Tate, London, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

 

  

ⁱ Kathleen Soriano, ‘Building, Dwelling, Thinking’, in Anselm Kiefer, (exh. cat.), Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2014, p. 21.

ⁱⁱ Ana Beatriz Duarte, ‘Anselm Kiefer: Pour Paul Celan’, Studio International, 3 January 2022, online.