Kiefer based this watercolor on photographs he had taken near the barren but beautiful coast of what was then Yugoslavia and titled it after a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). Goethe's "Wanderers Nachtlied" (Wanderer's Nightsong), well known in Germany, begins, "On every mountain peak / there is peace." The artist said he was attracted to the poem because "it makes a connection between human beings and landscape and means something more important, that you . . . will enter into the same cycle of life and death as nature."
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Inscription: Inscribed (along the mountain, in watercolor): Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh! In allen Wipfeln spürest Du kaum einen Hauch! [On every mountain peak there is peace! In all the treetops you detect scarcely a breeze!]; inscribed bottom center in watercolor: für Julia [for Julia]
private collection (1971–83; sold in 1983 to d'Offay); [Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, 1983–95; sold to MMA]
Kunstverein Freiburg. "Anselm Kiefer: Aquarelle 1970–1980," September 18–October 18, 1981, unnumbered cat. (as " Über allen Gipfel ist Ruh").
London. Anthony d'Offay Gallery. "Anselm Kiefer: Watercolours, 1970–1982," May 24–July 9, 1983, no. 4 (as "Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh [There is peace upon every mountain peak]").
Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. "Anselm Kiefer," March 24–May 5, 1984, no. 68 (as "There is peace upon every mountain peak").
ARC/Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Anselm Kiefer," May 11–June 21, 1984, no. 68.
Israel Museum, Jerusalem. "Anselm Kiefer," July 31–September 30, 1984, no. 68.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anselm Kiefer: Works on Paper, 1969–1993," December 15, 1998–March 21, 1999, no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes by Klee and Kiefer," January 19–September 30, 2001, no catalogue.
Madrid. Fundación Juan March. "The Abstraction of Landscape: From Northern Romanticism to Abstract Expressionism," October 4, 2007–January 13, 2008.
New York. Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery at the Metropolitan Opera. "From the Met to the Met: Anselm Kiefer and Wagner's Ring," February 17–May 9, 2009, not in brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Broken Flowers and Grass: Nature and Landscape in the Drawings of Anselm Kiefer," March 24–August 2, 2009, no. catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Land Marks," April 30–August 25, 2013, no catalogue.
R. H. Fuchs. Anselm Kiefer: Aquarelle 1970–1980. Exh. cat., Kunstverein Freiburg. Freiburg, 1981, unpaginated.
Anne Seymour. Anselm Kiefer: Watercolours 1970–1982. Exh. cat., Anthony d'Offay Gallery. London, 1983, unpaginated, no. 4, ill. (color).
Mark Rosenthal. Anselm Kiefer. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago and Philadelphia, 1987, p. 32, fig. 26.
Nan Rosenthal in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1994–1995." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 53 (Fall 1995), p. 68.
Nan Rosenthal. Anselm Kiefer: Works on Paper in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, p. 31, no. 8, ill. p. 32 (color).
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
