Broken Flowers and Grass
In an act of alteration and metamorphosis, during the 1980s Kiefer began reusing earlier self-portraits staged in the studio to create new works. The title Broken Flowers and Grass comes from the Middle-High German lyric poet Walther von der Vogelweide (1170–1230), who uses the phrase to reference the spot where two lovers made their bed. Dressed in a crocheted gown, the artist presented himself as if asleep, but the broken flowers and grass cover his body as if he were dead and buried, the ultimate state of transformation.
Artwork Details
- Title: Broken Flowers and Grass
- Artist: Anselm Kiefer (German, born Donaueschingen, 1945)
- Date: 1980
- Medium: opaque watercolor, acrylic, watercolor, and shellac on gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 29 7/8 x 23 1/8 in. (75.9 x 58.7 cm)
- Classifications: Drawings, Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1995
- Object Number: 1995.14.32
- Rights and Reproduction: © Anselm Kiefer
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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