North Carolina Museum of Art

Born in Germany in 1945, Anselm Kiefer grew up in a country rebuilding from the ashes of war and redefining its place in history. The somber colors and weighty themes of Kiefer's paintings reflect his grappling with the horrific recent past of his homeland as well as with more ancient and universal human concerns about life and death, good and evil. Kiefer believes art can affect the way individuals—and by extension, societies—think and act. Because he has often forced his countrymen to reflect upon the ideology and the deeds of the Nazi era, his work has been highly controversial in Germany for over two decades.

History, religion, mythology, philosophy, opera, literature and other art are fertile sources for Kiefer's work. This untitled triptych alludes to familiar Judeo-Christian traditions, such as the coiled serpent and the tripartite format often employed for altarpieces. The lead ladder attached to the canvas in the central panel may be a biblical reference, recalling Jacob's vision of a ladder from heaven on which angels descended to earth and ascended back to heaven (Genesis 28:12). But Kiefer is often ambiguous about the meaning of his symbols. Does the serpent represent evil, or is it a celestial being about to ascend the ladder back to heaven? Kiefer has used serpents in other paintings to represent seraphim and cherubim, the angels closest to God.

Alchemy fascinates Kiefer and may provide a clue to the meaning of the triptych. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, alchemists sought processes for transforming base matter into pure gold, a concrete expression of their philosophical goal, which was to transcend the material world to achieve spiritual purification and enlightenment. Lead, one of their raw materials, is used by Kiefer throughout this painting. On the right panel, splattered bits of lead seem to fall from the sky toward a funnel. Their passage through the funnel may result in a transmutation into some purer form. On the left panel, heavy stones are suspended from steel cables, perhaps suggesting they ascend toward heaven. Or they may descend to earth, for alchemists believed that stones came from heaven and were sacred. Kiefer is intrigued by the concept found in many world religions that all things emanate from God and return unto him again in a continuous cycle of transformation from spirit to matter to spirit.