Jenniyo. Artchive and Blog

Anselm Kiefer/ Van Gogh

Royal Academy of Arts- Burlington House

Jun 28-Oct 26, 2025

This exhibition traces the artistic conversation between Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) and Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), bringing their shared preoccupations with nature and literature into focus. 

The key piece of the exhibition is Anselm Kiefer’s Starry Night (2019). The size of the work is monumental, 4.7m x 8.4m. The work is made from materials such as oil, acrylic, straw, gold leaves, wire. This work is one of living artist’s closest tributes Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night (1899), which is in the collection of MoMA New York and not on view in this exhibition.

Kiefer’s works—long influenced by Van Gogh—employ unconventional materials and layered techniques to probe themes such as the cycles of life and the relationship between the earthly and the celestial. While Anselm Kiefer is known from his super textured paintings and his employment of materials such as straw, wires and clothes, Van Gogh used only oil paint. The size of Keifer’s works are significantly larger than the Dutch artist’s. 

In this show, the two artists’ pieces give familiar subjects renewed symbolic weight. However, van Gogh feels more intimate and emotional. This could be attributed to Keifer’s interest in philosophy and post-war reflection.