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Herzeleide

1979
Not on view
In Wagner’s opera Parsifal, Herzeleide, a grieving widow, raises her son in seclusion to protect him from danger. When Parsifal leaves home to fulfill his destiny, she dies of a broken heart (Herzeleide means "suffering heart" in German). Kiefer found his composition in a book from the Nazi era, a time when mothers were exalted for sacrificing their sons for the war. In the reproduction that was Kiefer’s source, a farmer’s wife looks at a document stating that her farm must be inherited by one son; in his watercolor, Kiefer replaced the document with an artist’s palette.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Herzeleide
  • Artist: Anselm Kiefer (German, born Donaueschingen, 1945)
  • Date: 1979
  • Medium: Watercolor, opaque watercolor, and graphite on paper
  • Dimensions: 18 7/8 x 14 1/8 in. (47.9 x 35.9 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1995
  • Object Number: 1995.14.25
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Anselm Kiefer
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

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Morgenthau Plan, Anselm Kiefer German, Acrylic, emulsion, oil, and shellac on inkjet prints mounted on canvas
Morgenthau Plan
Anselm Kiefer
2012
Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom, Anselm Kiefer German, Gouache, sand, ash and charcoal on two torn and pasted photographs
Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom
Anselm Kiefer
2000
Autumn Forest, Anselm Kiefer German, Watercolor, opaque watercolor, and graphite on papers
Autumn Forest
Anselm Kiefer
1970
Your Golden Hair, Margarete, Anselm Kiefer German, Watercolor, gouache, and acrylic on paper
Your Golden Hair, Margarete
Anselm Kiefer
1980
Wild Emperor, Anselm Kiefer German, Watercolor and acrylic on paper
Wild Emperor
Anselm Kiefer
1975

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