Collection: Anselm Kiefer

German artist Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) gave up his law studies in the 1960s to pursue art. A student of renowned conceptual artist Joseph Beuys, Kiefer drew from Beuys's teachings and developed his own Neo-Expressionist art form. Much of his early work was fueled by Germany's Nazi past, and the horror and tragedy of that period in his nation's history. In the 1980s, he began to explore history more broadly, touching upon the fate of the arts and culture in society. Themes of mysticism and the cycles of life, death, and rebirth emerged in his paintings as well as in his later sculptures. He still works today from his vast studio complex in the south of France.