The Stirring Paintings and Sculptures of Anselm Kiefer at Château La Coste

This summer, Château La Coste—a 500-acre sanctuary of art, architecture, winemaking, and bountiful natural landscape—presents the stirring paintings and sculptures of German artist Anselm Kiefer, currently on view until September 3 throughout the Renzo Piano Pavilion. Each exhibition invites viewers into the psyche of barrier-breaking creatives and allows for a closer look at marginalized figures in history and the poetry of life on earth. 

Nimbly traversing multiple mediums, such as sculpture, photography, painting, and installation, Kiefer integrates shards of memory, identity, spirituality, and history into his haunting works. A series of four landscape paintings, engraved with written text, shimmer with the ethereality of nature and Finnish mythology; Väinämöinen im Auhirschwald (2015–16) is an ode to the hymns of a demigod, while Ilmarinen (2015) invokes the god of air. Transformation as a means of survival is reflected in both the blush-colored, three-dimensional impasto of Der zweite Frühling (2015), a dreamlike lakeside scene, and Herbst (2015–16), a hushed blue and gray winter. 

The “Women of Antiquity” sculptures emerge on the grounds of the Château as ghostly figures which represent women of supreme courage and intellect. Bronze gowns, patinaed in white, float across the grass, atop which sit significant objects; hl. Agathe (2018) stands tall with a powerful metal nail as a symbol of St. Agatha, a Christian saint who was unyielding in her dedication to faith, enduring torture and a heinous death. The sculpture of Sappho (2002–18) pays respect to the Greek poet and her lyrical masterpieces, some of which imbued lesbian and erotic themes. Carrying a column of enormous lead books, the artwork serves as an astonishing reminder of the destruction of her life’s work in the 4th century by the church, as well as embodying her iconic stature as “The Poetess.”