The title of Anselm Kiefer's monumental exhibition in the Sala dello Scrutinio in the Doge's Palace in Venice comes from a writing by the Venetian philosopher Andrea Emo: These writings, when burned, will finally give some light (Questi scritti, quando bruciati, faranno finalmente un po' di luce).
Anselm Kiefer’s exhibition at the Doge’s Palace in Venice
The works were created by the German artist between 2020 and 2021, and interact with the original ceiling paintings. The theme that the artist intends to develop is the relationship between contemporary art and museums, hence the title of the exhibition, "These writings, when burned, will finally give some light" between the ironic and the cynical, or the resigned, if you like.
Anselm Kiefer’s exhibition in the Sala dello Scrutinio at the Doge’s Palace in Venice
Kiefer's work that reveals before our eyes is monumental and grandiose. Both Emo and Kiefer remind us that these paintings emerge from the negation, from the cancellation of the other pre-existing ones on which they are superimposed. And we are not taking about just any paintings: the artists who worked in the Sala dello Scrutinio after the fire that destroyed it in 1577 were Jacopo Tintoretto, Andrea Vicentino and Palma il Giovane.
Precisely because of that fire, some paintings were destroyed, and new paintings were created. Now Anselm Kiefer's paintings overlap the pre-existing ones and will be destined to die once they will be dismantled from the Doge's Palace.