The Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera presents the first solo exhibition in Barcelona by Anselm Kiefer (Donaueschingen, 1945), focused mainly on the relevant set of works entitled Opus magnum.

Since the 1980s, display cases have become a key element in Kiefer’s creative universe. Inside, he has arranged objects, materials and symbols that act as time capsules and synthesize central themes of his work related to history, mythology, identity and individual and collective memory. Kiefer’s display cases are condensed symbols and the objects they contain are both easy to recognize and enigmatic. Kiefer uses materials as varied as lead, cement, glass, stones, wire, pieces of cloth, tree roots or burnt books, which represent ideas such as renewal, hope and loss. The result is poetic constructions that challenge the viewer and open up new avenues of interpretation.

Curated by Walter Smerling, this exhibition presents a selection of these showcases: with books, objects and installations, complemented by some paintings that reveal the symbolic and spiritual strength of one of the most influential artists of our time.

The son of an art professor, Anselm Kiefer studied law, which he soon abandoned to enter the Art Academy in Fribourg (Switzerland). He later continued his artistic studies at the Karlsruhe Academy and with Joseph Beuys in Düsseldorf, between 1970 and 1972. While the currents of the moment were heading towards the essence of abstraction, Kiefer returned to German Expressionism, in search of the rough texture and sandy materiality of historical truth, sharing the Romantic impulse of the beginning of the century to combine pessimistic feelings and apocalyptic themes with transcendental desires.

The exhibition is linked to the work of Anselm Kiefer throughout his career, with works from his early stages to the most current proposals, which dialogue with his literary, symbolic and spiritual references.