SLAM to present survey of Anselm Kiefer’s work in Fall 2025

ST. LOUIS, July 1, 2025—This fall, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present a landmark exhibition of the work of Anselm Kiefer, one of the most influential artists of our time. “Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea” will be the first survey of Kiefer’s work in the United States in more than 20 years.

The exhibition will present around 40 works from the 1970s to the present, including more than 20 works made in the last five years and five monumental, site-specific paintings. Presented with free admission for all visitors, “Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea” opens Oct. 18 and runs through Jan. 25, 2026.

Central to the exhibition are Kiefer’s recent paintings of the Mississippi and Rhine rivers, drawing evocative parallels between the symbolic resonance of the two waterways and linking Kiefer’s thematic explorations of time, geography and the eternal flow of human history across the spectrum of the exhibition. It also continues the artist’s relationship with St. Louis and SLAM: In 1991, on a visit to St. Louis, Kiefer traveled by boat to see a newly constructed lock-and-dam complex just north of the city on the Mississippi River. The experience of this trip and its landscape stuck with the artist and, decades later, became a subject of renewed interest at a time when borders—a part of his own formative experiences—are again a constant focus both in the United States and around the world.

Several of these Mississippi and Rhine works, including “Anselm fuit hic” (Anselm Was Here, 2024), “Missouri, Mississippi” (2024) and “Lumpeguin, Cigwe, Animiki” (2024) will be installed in the Sculpture Hall of SLAM’s Cass Gilbert-designed Main Building. Created in 1904 as part of the World’s Fair—which itself was a celebration of the importance of the Mississippi River in the ongoing industrial development of the United States—the works, four of which are about 30 feet tall, will reshape the visitor’s experience of this majestic space. Made with sediment of electrolysis, the verdigris and gold leaf works incorporate female figures of water spirits and are both consistent with and a lighter contrast to many of Kiefer’s earlier works that use lead, clay and other darker materials.

“This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to trace Anselm Kiefer’s artistic development, from mid-career works to the latest chapter of his continuing evolution,” said Min Jung Kim, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum. “It is also an opportunity for our museum, which has many decades of history with the artist, to present an array of works that connect so closely to our own geography. Since the 1990s, Kiefer’s work has continued to change, while retaining its ability to plumb the most profound depths of human history. His work ranges from the psychological and visceral to the political, making clear the parallels between his visions of the Mississippi and Rhine rivers. In tandem with other recent exhibitions of his work, SLAM’s wide-ranging show will be an important milestone during this important year.”

Curated by Kim, with assistance from Melissa Venator, SLAM’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Modern Art, the exhibition will showcase a compelling blend of Kiefer’s iconic works and new pieces created over the last three decades. In addition to “Brennstäbe” (Fuel Rods, 1984-87), an important work from SLAM’s collection, the exhibition will draw from significant loans from American museums and private collections. Among these are: “Ich—Du” (I—You, 1971), an 11-part installation of paintings; “Unternehmen Seelöwe” (Operation Sea Lion, 1975); “Nigredo” (1984) and “Die Milchstraße” (The Milky Way, 1985-87). Also included will be Kiefer’s sculptures of women from antiquity, including “Eulalia” (2018), “Thusnelda” (2019), “Sappho” (2025) and “Melancolia” (2025), each made from a range of materials, including bronze, lead, resin, leather and glass. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue in early 2026 with contributions by Kiefer scholars.

SLAM’s relationship with Kiefer began in 1983, when the museum organized “Expressions: New Art from Germany,” a traveling show that introduced American audiences to Neo-Expressionism, and which included works by Kiefer. The exhibition toured extensively, traveling to six venues, including what would become MoMA PS1. In 1987, the museum acquired its first Kiefer work, “Brennstäbe” (Fuel Rods). Its second, “Bruch der Gefäße” (Breaking of the Vessels, 1990) in 1991, was accompanied by a visit from Kiefer to oversee the work’s installation. It subsequently acquired “Heliogabal” (1974), a gift from Mr. and Mrs. John Wooten Moore in 2001, and “Des Malers Atelier” (The Painter’s Studio, 1983), a partial gift from Betsy Millard in 2003.

The ongoing acquisition of these works by Kiefer are part of the museum’s long-term collecting strategy: SLAM has one of the largest and most diverse collections of 20th-century German art in the U.S. That collection was jump-started by artist Max Beckmann’s arrival in St. Louis in 1947. In 1950, SLAM presented the first exhibition of Beckmann’s work in this country. Following that exhibition, St. Louis-based collector Morton D. May began to acquire many Beckmann works, building what would become the world’s largest collection of the artist’s paintings.

When May died in 1983, he bequeathed his collection to the museum, which further spurred SLAM to prioritize acquisitions of important works by contemporary German artists. Totaling more than 2,500 objects by artists from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the museum’s holdings include strengths in German Expressionism—which, in addition to Beckmann, includes paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Käthe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Max Pechstein—and postwar German art, including important works by Joseph Beuys, Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck and Gerhard Richter.

About Anselm Kiefer

Born in Donaueschingen, Germany, in 1945, Anselm Kiefer is one of the most significant artists of the post World War II era, known for his unflinching examination of Germany’s complex historical legacy and broader themes of cultural memory and human existence. 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. His distinctive artistic practice, which began in the late 1960s and saw him develop an international recognition by the 1980s, has consistently pushed the boundaries of contemporary art while engaging with profound questions about civilization, spirituality, and the cyclical nature of destruction and renewal.

A master of material and scale, Kiefer’s work is distinguished by its ambitious scope and intellectual depth, drawing inspiration from sources as varied as poetry, literature, history, mysticism and mythology. His massive canvases and installations, often housed in purpose-built spaces, confront viewers with layered narratives that interweave personal and collective memory, addressing themes of loss, redemption and the persistence of history in contemporary life. Through his fearless engagement with difficult historical subjects and his innovative use of materials, Kiefer has influenced generations of artists, earned numerous accolades and been the focus of exhibitions around the world.

“Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea” is presented with generous support from the William T. Kemper Foundation, Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, and Gagosian.

CONTACT: Molly Morris, 314.655.5250, molly.morris@slam.org