Anselm Kiefer's art appears in many public collections worldwide. Several museums hold substantial selections of his paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. In Germany, significant holdings exist at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf), the Pinakothek der Moderne (Munich), and the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg). These museums offer a broad view of Kiefer's artistic development. Outside Germany, major collections include the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art (both in New York). The Tate Modern in London also possesses a group of his pieces. These international collections allow audiences to view Kiefer's work within a global context. Additionally, the Hall Art Foundation (Reading, Vermont, USA) has a large collection. It is viewable by appointment. Visiting these institutions provides opportunities to study the scale and materiality that characterise Kiefer's output.

Anselm Kiefer's prints, like his paintings, explore themes of German history, myth, and culture. Born in 1945, Kiefer began his career confronting Germany's past, including the Holocaust and the Nazi era. His prints often incorporate photographs, woodcuts, watercolour, gouache, and other media. Kiefer's works on paper are not preparatory sketches for larger paintings. Instead, they are finished pieces, sometimes related to his paintings as intermediary studies. He uses them to assess a painting's completeness by creating smaller versions. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kiefer created many drawings referencing German culture, history, literature, and music. These works sometimes evoke the propaganda of the Third Reich. His prints often display a mordant humour, using caricature and irony. The smaller format allows him to represent significant themes without pretension. Some of Kiefer's prints involve juxtaposing different sheets of paper or adding smaller sheets to larger ones, prompting viewers to consider the artwork's subject. His prints offer a unique perspective on his artistic vision, blending commentary and humour in a more accessible format than his large-scale paintings.

Anselm Kiefer's art remains significant because it grapples with history, myth, and memory. His works often incorporate materials such as straw, sand, and lead, creating textured surfaces. Kiefer studied with Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. His paintings evoke German history and explore themes of destruction and rebirth. For example, *Song of the Wayland* (1982) connects the myth of a vengeful blacksmith with the devastation of the Holocaust. *To the Unknown Painter* shows crop furrows leading to a monumental tomb, perhaps for German painters. Kiefer's work prompts viewers to consider individual responsibility and the power of nature. He uses his art to reflect on the overabundance of meaning in the modern world. Despite his move away from explicit German themes, his art continues to explore existential issues and the relationship between personal identity and collective history.

Anselm Kiefer employs a wide variety of materials and techniques in his practice. His works often incorporate oil paint, emulsion, and shellac. He is known to build up surfaces with thick paint, sometimes burning or cutting into them. Kiefer also uses photographs, often overpainting them with acrylic. Some are photographs he has taken himself; others are sourced from magazines or postcards. In addition, Kiefer assembles large-scale works on paper from individual woodcuts, which he then overpaints. Other materials found in Kiefer's art include lead, sand, straw, dried flowers, ferns, wood, and paper. He also creates "books" from photographs or woodcuts. Some works include molten lead affixed to the surface. The artist has described his paintings as "works of the scorched earth", stating that "painting = burning".

Anselm Kiefer's work resonated with a number of artists. He studied under Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Kiefer's art shares Beuys's interest in symbolic objects and the incorporation of real materials, such as straw, into paintings. Like Beuys, Kiefer imbued his works with a ritualistic quality. Kiefer's work, particularly his early pieces, explored themes related to German history and identity, often provoking strong reactions. In 1969, he photographed himself wearing a Nazi uniform and giving the Nazi salute in various locations. His large canvases sometimes featured imagery associated with Nazi architecture and concentration camps. His willingness to confront difficult aspects of the past influenced later generations of artists who grapple with historical and political themes in their work. Martin Kippenberger was also part of the cultural scene of Berlin.

Anselm Kiefer studied with Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Academy. Beuys's influence appears in Kiefer's use of materials such as tar, straw, rusty iron, and lead. Kiefer's large-scale paintings, with their accumulation of detail, also owe a debt to Jackson Pollock. Kiefer's work engages with German history, Jewish history, alchemy, the Kabbalah, and the Holocaust. He references the story of Exodus, Napoleon's occupation of Germany, and the neo-classical style of Nazism. Paul Celan's poem "Death Fugue", written in a concentration camp, also had an impact. Kiefer's series of works from 1973 focus on Richard Wagner's operas, particularly *Der Ring des Nibelungen* and *Parsifal*. Like Wagner, Kiefer draws inspiration from myths in the *Edda*, a collection of ancient Icelandic literature and a source for German mythology.

Anselm Kiefer's body of work is concerned with German history, myths, and collective memory. It is difficult to name one single "most famous" work. One significant piece is *Song of the Wayland* (1982). This large-scale painting combines oil, emulsion, straw, photography, and a lead wing on canvas. The title alludes to the myth of Wayland the blacksmith, who, after being crippled by a king, enacts a violent revenge before escaping with self-forged wings. Kiefer links this parable to the destruction of German culture during the Third Reich and the Holocaust. Another important work is the *Occupations* series (1969), a series of photographs where Kiefer is seen striking the "Sieg Heil" pose in various locations. These images confront aesthetic taboos and resurrect repressed icons of the past. His paintings often incorporate materials like sand, straw, and lead, building up thick, textured surfaces. Kiefer has stated that "painting = burning", and fire is a recurring motif in his art, representing critical and cathartic powers.

Anselm Kiefer's art resists simple categorisation, though he is often associated with Neo-Expressionism. This movement emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a reaction against the minimalism and conceptual art of the preceding decades. Neo-Expressionist artists revived figurative painting, often employing emotive and symbolic content. Kiefer's work shares some characteristics with Neo-Expressionism, such as its emphasis on subjective experience and its use of bold, gestural brushwork. However, his art also incorporates elements of other styles and movements. He draws on historical and mythological themes, often engaging with German history and identity. His use of materials, such as lead, straw, and ash, further distinguishes his practice. These materials carry symbolic weight and contribute to the tactile quality of his works. While Kiefer is linked to Neo-Expressionism through certain aesthetic and thematic concerns, his unique approach to materials and his engagement with history set him apart. His art remains difficult to classify neatly within a single movement.