Anselm Kiefer
German, born 1945

This painting belongs to a series inspired by Nazi architecture. Its compelling image is based upon the outdoor courtyard of Adolf Hitler’s Chancellery in Berlin, designed by Albert Speer. The dark grid of the flagstones recalls the railroad tracks that took millions of Jews and other “undesirables” to concentration camps.

“Athanor” means a self-feeding furnace, said to have been used by medieval alchemists to transform common substances into nobler material, such as base metals into gold. Although the goal of the alchemist was physical, the alchemical process was sometimes used in the Middle Ages to describe the spiritual quest by which the soul seeks perfection and becomes one with God. Likewise, with his provocative painting, Kiefer becomes the alchemist, literally using fire (a blowtorch) to symbolically purify and transform the symbols of Nazi Germany into hope for the future of humanity.

Oil, acrylic, emulsion, shellac and straw on photograph mounted on canvas, 1983-84
Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1994.22
© 1984 Anselm Kiefer