The must-see exhibitions in 2025: Anselm Kiefer Sag mir wo die Blumen sind, opening in Amsterdam

Anselm Kiefer: Where Have All the Flowers Gone

Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 7 March-9 June

Vincent van Gogh and Anselm Kiefer—two artistic titans separated by time but deeply connected through practice—are being brought together in an ambitious, two-venue show that’s opening in Amsterdam in March. Anselm Kiefer: Where Have All the Flowers Gone (Sag mir wo die Blumen sind), which is split between the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum, seeks to both highlight Kiefer’s decades-long fascination with the Dutch artist and offer a fresh view of his broader artistic development.

The event, which is the first joint project of its kind between the two museums, has been put together in close collaboration with Kiefer, who has created a host of new works for the exhibitions. It is intended to be seen as “one show”, says the Van Gogh Museum’s head of exhibitions Edwin Becker, although the two parts will be distinct in their focus.

At the Van Gogh Museum, exhibits will include drawings Kiefer made on a trip from the Netherlands to Belgium and France as a teenager, retracing Van Gogh’s footsteps. There will also be works by Kiefer that directly respond to the Post-Impressionist, including the never-before-exhibited The Starry Night (2019, pictured above), which evokes Van Gogh’s nightscape in a mixture of acrylic, straw, gold leaf, wood and more. The most “striking element of Kiefer’s work in relationship with Van Gogh,” says Becker, “is that he’s not so much interested in the myth of the artist. It’s more that he is struck by the compositions and the construction of the picture plane—that’s what he’s referring to all the time.” Corresponding paintings and drawings by Van Gogh, he adds, will also be on view.

The Stedelijk, meanwhile, is bringing out every Kiefer work in its collection for the first time. These will range from films to well-known canvases such as Innenraum (Interior) (1981), depicting the mosaic room of the now-demolished New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, a symbol of Nazi dictatorship. The Stedelijk will also house the exhibition’s “key” work, Becker says: a new 24m-long installation that will surround the museum’s historic staircase and consist of materials including paint, clay, dried rose petals, gold, costumes and Second World War uniforms. This work shares the title of the show, which references an anti-war song from 1955 written by Pete Seeger and made popular by Marlene Dietrich.

Later in the year, the Van Gogh Museum will collaborate with the Royal Academy of Arts in London on an adapted version of the show.