Anselm Kiefer Transforms Paris with Mythological Reverie
At the Pantin gallery, the venerated artist orchestrates a sublime meditation on classical narratives, layering paint, collage and memory into a transcendent sanctuary. The exhibition remains open until late October 2026.
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At the Paris Pantin gallery, Anselm Kiefer unveils an extraordinary immersion into the territories of classical mythology, wherein more than twenty paintings constitute a profound meditation on narrative, memory and the sublime. Here, the artist orchestrates a symphony of richly textured surfaces and intricately collaged elements, transforming the exhibition space into what might be described as a sanctuary of archaeological reverie.
The works themselves speak in a language of accumulated materiality. Thick impasto surfaces fracture and yield beneath accumulated layers of paint, whilst fragments of lead, oxidised metal and gilded elements emerge like precious reliquaries buried within geological strata. The white light that suffuses the gallery space becomes complicit in this visual poetry, striking the textured surfaces and disappearing into the cracks, the wounds, the evidence of the artist’s hand and time’s passage. Gold leaf catches and glimmers; ash and earth tones resonate with primordial memory.
A Telluric Sanctuary
Kiefer’s Nymphäum transforms the Pantin space into something profoundly atmospheric; a place where ancient mythologies surface anew through contemporary artistic vision. The classical narratives that have captivated artists and philosophers for millennia are here reimagined through the artist’s singular vocabulary of texture, material and accumulated surface. Each painting functions as a palimpsest, a surface upon which multiple temporalities converge and dialogue.
The exhibition extends beyond the visual realm into the operatic. A recital inspired by the paintings, commissioned from the Opéra Comique, further enriches the exhibition’s sensory and intellectual dimensions, inviting visitors to experience these classical narratives through both visual and sonic registers.
The Pantin location itself becomes integral to the experience. The gallery’s architecture and proportions are transformed through Kiefer’s vision, with the works commanding the space in a manner that speaks to both intimacy and monumentality. Whether approaching a single canvas or absorbing the cumulative effect of the exhibition, one encounters an artist working at the height of his considerable powers, channeling the weight of history, mythology and human memory into objects of extraordinary presence and resonance.
The exhibition remains on view until 25 October 2026, offering an extended opportunity to engage with one of contemporary art’s most profound and visionary practitioners.
Imagery courtesy of Thaddaeus Ropac (@thaddaeusropac).
