Hoffmann von Fallersleben: The Belt

1977–78

Not on view

The Belt refers to the narrow body of water that separates northern Germany from Denmark and represents, in an expurgated verse of the German national anthem "Deutschland über Alles," one of the four waterways that delineate the German-speaking world. The anthem’s lyrics were first a poem, written by patriot August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798–1874) while he was in exile in Helgoland. A cry for the democratic unification of the German states, the poem was celebrated after World War I as the national anthem but later used by the Nazis for a different kind of nationalistic fervor. It is perhaps the anthem’s fraught history that appealed to Kiefer.

Artwork Details

Title: Hoffmann von Fallersleben: The Belt
Artist: Anselm Kiefer (German, born Donaueschingen, 1945)
Date: 1977–78
Medium: Acrylic, graphite, and shellac on paper
Dimensions: 21 x 26 1/4 in. (53.3 x 66.7 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1995
Object Number: 1995.14.22
Rights and Reproduction: © Anselm Kiefer
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

By Anselm Kiefer

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Böhmen liegt am Meer (Bohemia Lies by the Sea), Anselm Kiefer German, Oil, emulsion, shellac, charcoal, and powdered paint on burlap — Böhmen liegt am Meer (Bohemia Lies by the Sea)
Anselm Kiefer
1996

Armor, Steel, leather, German, possibly Lower Saxony — Armor
German, possibly Lower Saxony
ca. 1540–50 and later

The Vistula, Anselm Kiefer German, Acrylic, graphite, and shellac on paper — The Vistula
Anselm Kiefer
1977–78

Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom, Anselm Kiefer German, Gouache, sand, ash and charcoal on two torn and pasted gelatin silver prints — Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom
Anselm Kiefer
2000

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