Years ago, as a young man not particularly interested in art, I walked into a museum in Amsterdam, and happened to come face to face with a monumental painting of Anselm Kiefer. It made such an impression on me, that I still remember the moment, even the painting: a dark post-apocalyptic scene.
In the meantime I have learned that Kiefer, who was born in Germany amongst the ravages of bombing raids at the end of World War II, is preoccupied, if not obsessed, with his struggle with war and destruction. And over the years I have seen more work by Kiefer, invariably dark and menacing, in my memory. As recently as September 2023 I admired a huge, wall-covering war scene in a museum in Finland (https://theonearmedcrab.com/08-the-museum/).
So when the Museum Voorlinden (https://theonearmedcrab.com/museum-voorlinden/), near The Hague in the Netherlands, put up a solo exhibition of Kiefer, I just had to see this. New Year’s Day 2024 was the opportunity. It is called ‘Bilderstreit’, which is something like battle with the images.
It did not disappoint, on the contrary. The visitor is blown away by room after room of monumental art works, sometimes paintings, sometimes installations.
Many of the paintings need to be viewed in three dimensions, as huge metal constructions come out of the canvas, into the room. The overall impression was actually a lot less dark than I had imagined, despite the copious use of black lead; although the subject matter remains mostly depressing, of course. There is a room full of collages of woodcuts on canvas, with a sombre depiction of the Rhine, for instance. But another room contains a collection of, rather erotic, watercolour and pencil works, which at least are a lot more colourful.
Most of the works on show are fairly recent, or fairly recently completed, in the last ten years, or so. Culminating in a delightful series called ‘Journal Intime’ (2023), adorned bicycles – and in one case a super market trolley – glued to painted canvas. There is an installation, a room full of objects dedicated to historically relevant Germans, including a bed for Ulrike Meinhoff. But my favourites remain the huge paintings, each of which require meticulous study to discover the many details. A sample, below.
a fabulous exposition, never seen anything like it!!