Anselm Kiefer Vanitas, 2019–2020

German artist Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) often uses depictions of nature to explore the fundamental questions of human existence, through a dialectic of beauty and destruction. In the richly textured Vanitas (2019–2020) he reimagines the vanitas genre, evoking the transience of life through folded and tangled stalks in thick impasto, which, half-ossified, seem to be climbing towards the light. Many of Kiefer’s paintings incorporate highly symbolic found objects. Here, a scythe looms at the top of the canvas, recalling the themes of earth and agriculture that the artist explores across his oeuvre. Often associated with allegorical representations of Death, the scythe also serves as the memento mori typical of vanitas painting, encouraging a reflection on the cyclical nature of life.