Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam are joining Forces

This exhibition, which opens in spring 2025, places Kiefer centre stage. Like a diptych, it is one show in two parts; never before has the artist’s special connection with the work of Vincent van Gogh been highlighted. All of Kiefer’s best-loved works from the Stedelijk collection – a museum that has been pivotal to his career – will be displayed together. Both venues will also present new, previously unexhibited work by the artist. Anselm Kiefer: Sag mir wo die Blumen sind tells a unique story about Kiefer’s development as an artist. One entrance ticket gives visitors access to the full show across both museums. 

The title of the exhibition is taken from the 1955 protest song Where have all the flowers goneby American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger. It became more famous in 1962 when Marlene Dietrich performed the song in English, German and French. Sag mir wo die Blumen sind is the title of a new, large spatial work by Kiefer that will be on view at the Stedelijk. The flowers of the title are also a reference to the Sunflowers (1889) of Vincent van Gogh and to recently made landscapes by Kiefer, which make their debut in this exhibition.  

Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945, Donaueschingen, Germany) was born in the closing months of World War II, and as a boy he played in the debris of post-war Germany. In the late 1960s, Kiefer was one of the first German artists to address the country’s fraught history in monumental, acerbic works for which he sustained intense criticism in his homeland. In the Netherlands, his work first gained recognition among collectors and museums like the Stedelijk. Later, Kiefer would be hailed for breaking the silence surrounding Germany’s past. His work reflects on themes such as history, mythology, philosophy, literature, alchemy, and landscape. 

Main Image :Anselm Kiefer, Innenraum, 1981, oil, acrylic and paper on canvas, the artist, 287.5 × 311 cm, collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Anselm Kiefer, The starry night, 2019, emulsion, oil, acrylic, shellac, straw, gold leaf, wood, wire, sediment of an electrolysis on canvas, 470 x 840 cm © Anselm Kiefer. Photo: Georges Poncet