Engel mit Palette

"Kiefer underlines the play of reflections to which the work of the artist is subjected, between the physical and mental, natural and cultural pilgrimage. His being places itself at the limit of the two entities, as a force wandering from one side to the other. The analogy of the angel is the consequence of this, in that the artist performs a crossing between heaven and earth, between spirit and body. As the transformer of images and energies, he is a messenger between physical and spiritual powers. He assumes them and returns them purified, he dives deep into them in order to raise them and turn 'the invisible into the visible'the artist can identify or represent himself in the celestial figure that conveys the gospel of painting, represented by its instrument of creation: the palette." (G. Celant, "The Destiney of Art: Anselm Kiefer" in Venezia Contemporaneo, Anselm Kiefer, Milan, 1997, p. 16).