in palazzo strozzi, anselm kiefer exhibits god’s fallen angels using wax, sand, flowers and ash

anselm kiefer’s new exhibition ‘fallen angels’ at palazzo strozzi

Palazzo Strozzi welcomes Fallen Angels, Anselm Kiefer’s new major exhibition that journeys through the German artist’s historical works and new productions on the biblical reference. Upon entering the palace, the visitors are immediately greeted by the artist’s latest major work created for the Renaissance courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi.

Anselm Kiefer’s Fallen Angels runs between March 22nd and July 21st, 2024, and visitors are embraced into the artist’s stratified research on the themes of memory, myth, history, literature, and philosophy using varied mediums and materials, including photography and sculpture, with the dubbed rebellions of God as the thematic focus.

angels expelled from heaven in paintings and photographs

In the new Palazzo Strozzi exhibition, Anselm Kiefer draws upon the expression ‘fallen angels.’ It is biblically referred to as the angels expelled from heaven after they rebelled against God, and such symbolism penetrates through the exhibition with a mist of solemnity, tension, and reflection. The allegories, figures, and forms appearing in the paintings, sculptures, installations, and photographs throughout the exhibition underline Anselm Kiefer’s interpretation of the fallen angels. His research, backed by the themes of identity and poetry, comes from a well of historical and biblical events and differing philosophical thoughts that the artist himself conducted.

transforming raw materials such as wax, sand, and ash

As visitors move through Anselm Kiefer’s Fallen Angels in Palazzo Strozzi, each artwork hopes to offer ties between the past, present, and future when it comes to understanding themselves and connecting them to the spiritual realm. To evoke these in the physical space, Anselm Kiefer transforms raw materials such as lead, wax, seeds, earth, flowers, sand, and ash into imposing and tangible works, made of dense stratifications. In the exhibition, electrolysis and fire, for example, are subjected to real physical transformations, and layers of sedimentation emerge from artworks.

In the words of Arturo Galansino, the General Director of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation and the curator of the exhibition, Anselm Kiefer’s thematic approach is borrowed from a variety of literature, philosophy, and history, an attempt at a continuous reflection on the nature of the human being. His fallen angels are then either concealed, engraved, embossed, underlined, or mysterious, exhibiting the angelic and mythical sense that has long perforated the essence of the divine beings.

Arturo Galansino adds that ‘At Palazzo Strozzi his works are placed in dialogue with Renaissance architecture, amplifying the stratifications of their meanings around themes such as memory, history, and war. The exhibition becomes an invitation to all visitors to investigate the complexity of existence between past, present, and future and in the dialectic between spirituality and materiality.’

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project info:

exhibition name: Fallen Angels

artist: Anselm Kiefer

curator: Arturo Galansino

palace: Palazzo Strozzi

location: Piazza degli Strozzi, 50123 Firenze FI

dates: March 22nd and July 21st, 2024