© Anselm Kiefer
Man under a Pyramid
1996
- Artist Rooms
Usually denoting the presence of a tomb, ancient pyramids are commonly used to symbolise spiritual salvation. Kiefer’s structure is the same shape as the Great Pyramids in Egypt, whose stepped walls were believed to offer the deceased a safe passage to heaven. However, in Kiefer’s image, a body is still present beneath the pyramid. In his thick application of paint and ash, the artist creates a sense of gravity and re-contextualises the pyramid motif for a post-Holocaust era. Recalling the brick-like structures in his earlier paintings of Nazi mausoleums, it acts as a reminder to the haunting legacy of war.
