Im Herz des Bergs, 2021, photo, Charles Duprat © Anselm Kiefer

You might have missed the Kiefer/Celan exhibition at Grand Palais Ephémère which, alas, only lasted a month, due to the numerous fashion activities of the place. So now is your chance to catch up with very different paintings which were done during the same period of lockdown and with the same huge talent by the German painter who lives mostly in France. The show of eighteen paintings in Pantin at Thaddaeus Ropac is dazzling, with the wonderful light which comes from the ceiling and the immaculate white space of the large warehouse. Where Grand Palais was all in darkness and drama, Pantin is flamboyant with colors and gold. Do not miss it (until May 11).

The gallery in Pantin has fabulous light with in the back: “Paul Celan: du rolls die Altäre Zeitenwärts”, 2021

This is a tribute to poetry and to four poets, Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan, Ossip Mandelstam and XIX th century August Graf von Platen whose works Anselm Kiefer lives with. Buildings in ruins, cornfields, bunkers on the Atlantic or forests covered in snow, erupt from his canvases covered with thick paint. The artist conveys the silence and trauma of post war Germany and includes all kinds of material (straw, china, varnish) as sediments in his canvases.

Berenices Haupthaar, 2020, photo, Charles Duprat © Anselm Kiefer

Kiefer believes that “a painting is never finished, always on the move” and keeps working on them for years in his studio. Here he mixes poetry with myth and history to portray humanity and its tragedies. I particularly liked in the show, the white room with a few “Winter for Paul Celan” paintings which are covered in snow. Chalk, metal wire, and porcelain give them a clear color. The very large “…weiss weiss wie Gittertünche” which covers the back wall with its 380 by 950 cm width, is impressive. It was painted over three years.

Winter für Paul Celan, 2017-2020, photo Charles Duprat © Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer, “Tribute to a poet”, until May 11 at Thaddaeus Ropac, 69 avenue du General Leclerc, in Pantin. Lunchtime is a good time to visit because you can drive there easily and eat in the little cantine, Le Café Bleu.