Image: Thaddaeus Ropac, London
Anselm Kiefer’s ‘Nymphäum’ is on view in Paris Pantin and online until 25 October 2026. The exhibition is presented at Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Pantin in collaboration with the Opéra-Comique.
The exhibition presents more than 20 paintings, across which Kiefer reimagines narratives from classical mythology through richly layered paint and collaged elements. The German artist blends, with characteristic power, mythology, contemporary ruins and shifting landscapes into monumental works where gold, ash, lead and paint seem to be in a constant state of flux.
‘Smilax’ (2025) uses emulsion, oil, acrylic, shellac, gold leaf, sediment from electrolysis, and collage of canvas on canvas. Watching over the natural world, the nymphs weave connections between figure and nature and between interior and exterior realms, softening the frontiers between landscape and portraiture.
Kiefer was born in 1945 in Donaueschingen, Germany; in 1992, he moved to France, where he lives and works between Paris and Barjac near Avignon.
An Opéra-Comique recital is inspired by three of Kiefer’s paintings: ‘Iphigenie’ (2025), ‘Merope’ (2022–25) and ‘Salmakis und Hermaphroditos’ (2025).
