French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Kiefer, Art Will Survive Its Ruins
Art and Visual Culture
Art Will Survive Its Ruins
Anselm Kiefer
Published on: 02/03/2011
Publisher: Fayard
Series: Collège de France
ISBN: 978-2-213-66239-8
EAN: 9782213662398
No. of pages: 59 pages
Publisher's price: €10.00
I have faith only in art, and without it, I am lost. Often, I lock paintings away in the darkness of a container for many long years.
What do paintings locked away like this do all that time, until the moment they call back to my memory by signaling to me? Nothing? Certainly not, since they have managed to gather the strength to draw attention to themselves. After releasing the canvas from the darkness, I repaint it, and a transition takes place toward another state. Self-destruction has always been the most intimate, the most sublime goal of art, whose vanity then becomes perceptible.
No matter how powerful the attack, and even if it should reach its limits, art will survive its ruins. Born in 1944, the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer is a major figure in contemporary art and one of its most striking personalities. His works, saturated with material (sand, earth, strata of lead, soot, saliva, chalk, hair, ash, materials of ruin and refuse), are nourished by literature and philosophy.
He is a visiting professor at the Collège de France for the academic year 2010–2011, holding the Chair of Artistic Creation.
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An article about this work can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:
Published by Fayard in the prestigious Collège de France series, this volume captures the reflections of German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer during his tenure as Chair of Artistic Creation. Known for monumental works incorporating heavy, elemental materials such as lead, ash, sand and earth, Kiefer engages deeply with philosophy and literature. This concise text offers rare insight into the creative processes of a major contemporary figure, exploring how artistic practice confronts materiality, decay and the passage of time through a unique personal lens.
This book will appeal to art historians, students of contemporary aesthetics, and readers interested in the intersections of philosophy and visual culture. It provides valuable context for understanding the themes of memory and ruin that dominate post-war European art. By examining the fragile yet enduring nature of creative expression, the work addresses fundamental questions about the purpose of art in a fractured world, making it an essential addition to the discourse on modern artistic creation.