New exhibition

“The Rhine is a part of my being”

Anselm Kiefer at work on one of his installations.(Bild: © Anselm Kiefer. Fotos Georges Poncet)

The famous artist Anselm Kiefer returns to the place of his childhood with new works at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

"It is only logical that Anselm Kiefer has now arrived at his source on this long journey into the depths of his life: the Rhine," writes art historian and bestselling author Florian Illies about a very special exhibition: At the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg's Villa Kast, the painter is presenting a new series of works in which he returns to the place of his childhood: "My Rhine".

A place he remembers as follows: "The Rhine is part of my being. The river could be reached on foot in half an hour. Walking through an avenue of tall trees, you could see the shimmering silver ribbon of the river from afar, which was simultaneously the destination, the end of the journey and the promise of another, mysterious land on the other bank of the river."

Kiefer's ode to the Rhine is reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich's "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog".(Bild: Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul © Anselm Kiefer Photo: Georges Poncet)

The result is pictures with a fragile poetry that shimmer like the "gold of the Nibelungs", according to Illies. Autumnal melancholy can also be felt in some of the pictures and installations. And as a special surprise, the artist's children's drawings are also on display - like the small spring from which this great journey through life sprang.

The exhibition can be seen in Salzburg from today until September 28.