The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is currently hosting an extraordinary exhibition featuring paintings that tower three stories high, created specifically for this presentation by one of the world's most celebrated contemporary artists. The exhibition, titled "Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea," showcases monumental works that literally stand as tall as buildings, offering visitors a rare opportunity to experience art on an unprecedented scale with completely free admission.
Assistant Curator Melissa Venator, who has spent two years helping organize this remarkable show, describes the experience as incredible. "These aren't just paintings he had in the studio. They're paintings that he made for this presentation because this exhibition wouldn't take place in any other city," Venator explained. The logistics alone represent a mammoth undertaking, with some pieces weighing over a ton and requiring shipment by boat from France to reach St. Louis.
The exhibition occupies approximately 30,000 square feet of gallery space, making it SLAM's largest single exhibition in decades. The show features an impressive collection of statues, prints, paintings, photographs, and landscapes that demonstrate Kiefer's mastery across multiple mediums. Visiting pieces from other museums and collections complement the display, showcasing Kiefer's artistic evolution from the 1960s to the present day.
Anselm Kiefer, now 80 years old, is not a local or even American artist, but rather an internationally renowned German multimedia artist whose works hang in prestigious institutions like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). His artistic career has been the subject of documentaries by acclaimed filmmaker Wim Wenders, and he maintains fond memories of St. Louis that motivated his participation in this exhibition. This marks Kiefer's first U.S. exhibition in over two decades, making the St. Louis showing particularly significant in the art world.
According to SLAM staff who have worked directly with Kiefer, the artist was excited about utilizing the museum's unique space and was particularly motivated by powerful memories from a trip he took to the banks of the Mississippi River decades ago. This personal connection to St. Louis helped inspire the creation of new works specifically for this exhibition, demonstrating the artist's deep appreciation for the city and its cultural landscape.
SLAM's Barbara B. Taylor Director Min Jung Kim has noted that since the 1990s, Kiefer's work has continued to evolve while maintaining its ability to explore the most profound depths of human history, encompassing psychological, visceral, and political dimensions. Working across diverse media including painting, sculpture, and installation, Kiefer creates monumental works characterized by their raw, tactile surfaces and incorporation of unconventional materials such as lead, ash, clay, and dried flowers.
The relationship between Kiefer and the St. Louis Art Museum spans several decades, representing what staff describe as a "long love affair" with both the institution and the city itself. In 1983, a traveling exhibition on German art first brought Kiefer's work to the United States. Four years later, in 1987, SLAM acquired its first Kiefer piece, titled "Brennstäbe" (Fuel Rods in English). Later, Kiefer personally visited the museum to oversee the installation of the second work to join SLAM's collection, "Bruch der Gefäße" (Breaking of the Vessels).
The ongoing acquisition of Kiefer's works represents part of the museum's long-term collecting strategy, as SLAM maintains one of the largest and most diverse collections of 20th-century German art in the United States. This extensive collection includes significant holdings of works by German artist Max Beckmann, with acquisitions beginning shortly after World War II, demonstrating the museum's longstanding commitment to German artistic expression.
Born in Germany during World War II, Kiefer grew up in Cold War-divided Germany and initially studied law before pursuing his artistic career. His work is widely recognized for its profound examination of Germany's complex history and legacy, as well as broader themes of humanity and cultural memory. Much of his artistic output grapples with difficult historical subjects, processing collective trauma through artistic expression.
Described as a master of both material and scale, Kiefer's work distinguishes itself through ambitious scope and intellectual depth. His inspiration draws from diverse sources including poetry, literature, history, mysticism, and mythology, creating layered narratives that speak to universal human experiences. The massive canvases and installations regularly require specially constructed spaces to accommodate their extraordinary dimensions.
These multi-layered works weave together personal and collective memories, exploring themes of loss, historical persistence, and redemption. The current exhibition allows visitors to experience firsthand how Kiefer's monumental scale serves his artistic vision, creating immersive environments that challenge conventional notions of what constitutes a painting or sculpture. The free admission ensures that this once-in-a-generation artistic experience remains accessible to all members of the community, regardless of economic circumstances.
