Anselm Kiefer: Sculpting Time and Fate

Anselm Kiefer is not a painter; he is a sorcerer. There are few artists who have crossed the line separating mere creation from shamanism—those who are not content with describing reality but instead catalyze within it an alchemical transformation. Kiefer communicates with the spirit through his hands, turning dormant, heavy, and earthly matter into a mystical entity that pulses with a life of its own. This is art that does not merely observe the world; it births it from ash, lead, and spirit. It is a dark, grand magic that catches the breath.

In this sense, Kiefer’s art is the bridge connecting separate worlds. It is the ability to forge links between disconnected particles of existence and to find the delicate, tense balance between absolute chaos and organized order. This is art that refuses to see separation, weaving it instead into a single spiritual unity. Much like in Wim Wenders’ film Anselm, one can almost hear constant whispers surrounding these massive, heavy canvases - an echo of a distant memory - and smell the sharp scent of paint, acids, fire, and burnt straw.

To understand the source of this conjuring, one must return to the womb from which it was born: just two months before the end of World War II. Kiefer grew up within the ruins of a defeated Germany. For him, the piles of ash and expanses of concrete were not merely historical or social wounds, but a childhood playground. For Kiefer, history is not a sealed fate or a sequence of objective facts, but a flexible raw material. He observes how every culture writes, erases, and rewrites its own narrative, understanding that history is, in fact, a sculpture in time. In his worldview, there is no "single history"; there are only stories to be dismantled and reassembled.

The exhibition is hosted at the Hortensia Herrero Art Center (CAHH), located in the heart of Valencia, within a building that is itself an alchemical act of connecting disparate worlds. This is the ancient Roman Valentia resurrected in literal physical layers: from the "Circus" where horses once raced in ancient competitions, through the remains of an old urban quarter, to the deep traces of various civilizations and faiths carved into the walls. At the CAHH, history is not a frozen exhibit behind glass; it is a living, breathing material embedded in the space. Moving between modern galleries, an ancient chapel, or a hidden garden creates a sense that time is not linear.

This ethos extends to the art collection of Hortensia Herrero Chacón - a billionaire businesswoman and Valencia native. Kiefer’s monumental paintings are woven into the collection, placed among spaces where everything blends: meticulous archaeological preservation of artifacts found on-site alongside contemporary sculptures, photographs, and installations.

The curation by Javier Molins draws us through the floors and levels. We find ourselves before a single work - the face of a woman in a forest - which merges almost organically with the building’s internal garden; the green foliage, ancient stones, and local ceramics become a living frame for the piece. In another hall, four vivid flower paintings stand amidst infinite fields, while two works carry his iconic lead books - those heavy volumes that appear throughout his oeuvre as a testament to ancient, silent knowledge. In a small painting, Kiefer depicts the role of the artist as the connector between earth and sky.

The "Grand Finale" of the exhibition awaits in the attic, where the breathtaking painting "Danaë" is unveiled. Spanning approximately 13 meters in length and nearly 4 meters in height, it becomes a total installation that swallows the viewer whole. The work depicts the architectural structure of Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, a site of immense historical weight that later became a symbol of survival and rescue during the Berlin Airlift. Kiefer masterfully weaves this charged structure with the myth of Danaë and Zeus’s golden rain. This connection between exposed concrete and a divine impregnation that births a new destiny transforms Tempelhof into a spiritual entity. On the highest floor in Valencia, beneath the sky just beyond the roof, Kiefer reminds us that even from ash and ruins, a rain of gold can fall and bring about a profound restoration.

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