Anselm Kiefer. Fallen Angels

Anselm Kiefer, *Engelssturz* (Fall of the Angel), 2022–2023, emulsion, oil, acrylic, shellac, gold leaf, fabric, sediment of electrolysis and charcoal on canvas, 750 × 840 cm

In Spring 2024, Palazzo Strozzi hosted a major exhibition dedicated to one of the greatest masters of the 20th and 21st century art, Anselm Kiefer. Renowned for his impactful works that explore themes of memory, myth, war, and existence through painting, sculpture, and installation, Kiefer presented historical works and new productions at Palazzo Strozzi, engaging in a unique dialogue with the Renaissance architecture.

Each work by Kiefer always expresses a rejection of limits, in its monumentality and the power of materiality, but above all in the infinite richness of resources with which he delves into the depths of memory and the past. He made his debut on the German art scene in the late 1960s with works that reflected on the history of the Second World War and the emotional and cultural legacy of Germany. This marked the beginning of an artistic pursuit in which history, myth, religion, mysticism, poetry, and philosophy merge and blur with one another.

Curated by Arturo Galansino, the exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi aimed to convey the vital complexity of Kiefer’s art, celebrating the interweaving of figure and abstraction, nature and artificiality, creation and destruction in a deeply engaging project, both in the physical and conceptual space of his works.

07(DS_07823)©photoElaBialkowskaOKNOstudio.jpg

12(DS_07940)©photoElaBialkowskaOKNOstudio.jpg

20(DS_08884)©photoElaBialkowskaOKNOstudio.jpg

32(DS_08154)©photoElaBialkowskaOKNOstudio.jpg

Engelssturz (Fall of the Angel)

Site specific work for the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi

The exhibition Anselm Kiefer. Fallen Angels kicks off with the work Engelssturz (Fall of the Angel), specially conceived by the artist to establish a dialogue with the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi and its austere Renaissance architecture, through a powerful materiality, the monumental dimensions of more than seven meters, and the gold background reminiscent of Gothic polyptychs. Kiefer’s painting fits into the historical-artistic context of the place, emphasizing the fusion of tradition and contemporaneity. The imposing presence in the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi creates a unique experience, provoking reflections on transience and transformation, concepts intrinsic to the depiction of the “fall of the angel.”

The artist has drawn the title on the upper left, and the name Michael in the Hebrew alphabet (מיכאל) on the right. Rebellious angels are driven out of Heaven by the archangel, who with his right hand holds a sword, wears a feathered helmet, and with his left index finger points to heaven, symbolically manifesting the divine will and, simultaneously, revealing his own name.

The archangel stands out, translucent at the bottom, against the golden background, symbolizing, as in fourteenth-century paintings, the metaphysical world. Of the fallen angels, only faces and robes are visible, falling into the dark part, where they acquire three-dimensionality. Embedded in the chaotic mixture of materials, modern garments stand out, like remnants that survived a catastrophe. The work becomes a reflection on the struggle between Good and Evil, as well as an invitation to reconsider the relationship between heaven and earth, between spiritual and material dimensions. The expression “fallen angels” takes on a broader scope, extending to identify all people and especially the artist. The connection between the two spheres, emphasized both by the painting and by the space in which it is placed, constitutes a challenge to the unknown: art thus becomes the means through which human beings attempt to confront the transcendent, trying to reduce it to a rational dimension.

For this canvas, Kiefer was inspired by Luca Giordano’s Expulsion of the Rebel Angels or St. Michael, executed by the Neapolitan painter between 1692 and 1702, and preserved today in the Museum of Cadiz, whose subject is based on Revelation (12:7-9).