Page opening 12 from "The Heavenly Palaces: Merkabah" 1990

Curator: This is Anselm Kiefer's "Page opening 12 from 'The Heavenly Palaces: Merkabah'," currently residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Whoa, that’s intense! It feels like staring into the void, a gray, melancholic sky just before a storm. Curator: Indeed. The large scale—nearly four feet tall—amplifies its impact. Notice the bi-fold construction, like a sacred text opened for revelation. Editor: You know, it also feels deeply tactile. I can almost feel the grit and weight of the material, which I imagine is paint, maybe even mixed with some earth? Curator: Kiefer often incorporates materials like straw, lead, and shellac to evoke themes of history, memory, and destruction. Semiotically, the gray scale represents a kind of absence, a past that is both present and irretrievable. Editor: Absence…or maybe potential? Like a blank canvas waiting for the next cosmic drama to unfold. I like that better. Curator: It's a compelling reading. Kiefer consistently challenges us to confront uncomfortable truths through materiality and form. Editor: Well, whether it’s absence or potential, this piece really gets under your skin. Makes you think about the big, unanswerable questions.