Anselm Kiefer: Nymphäum

Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Pantin presents "Nymphäum", an exhibition of new works by Anselm Kiefer. Across more than 20 paintings, the artist orchestrates richly layered paint and collaged elements to reimagine narratives sourced from classical mythology. The title of the exhibition translates as ‘nymphaeum’, referring to sanctuaries consecrated to the nymphs in ancient Greece and Rome. Kiefer transforms the gallery into his own painterly nymphaeum: a new chapter in the interweaving of myth and matter that has defined his practice for more than five decades.

Kiefer amasses and continually reworks motifs as tools to excavate the depths of human history. In this new body of work, he turns his attention to nymphs: embodiments of nature rooted in classical mythology and yet urgently contemporary. These figures become conduits for an idea at the heart of Kiefer’s artmaking: humanity’s profound entanglement with the cycles of the natural world.

Across Kiefer’s work, nature battles to reclaim ravaged terrains, serving as a metaphor for the inevitability of cyclical destruction and rebirth against the backdrop of the scarred landscape of post-war, post-industrial Europe. The language of material plays an essential role in Kiefer’s work, and across the exhibition, highly symbolic connections emerge from shellac and chalk, collaged straw and charcoal. Kiefer also employs the sediment of electrolysis as paint, applying it generously to his canvases to denote foliage or water.