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From Oscar Wilde

1974
Not on view
As inscribed, Kiefer pretends the rose pictured here in delicate watercolor was a gift for his then wife, Julia, from Oscar Wilde ("von Oskar Wilde / für Julia"). Kiefer thus links his romantic floral subject to the great writer's witty and bittersweet fairy tales—particularly "The Nightingale and the Rose" (1888). In Wilde's story, the songbird impales itself on the thorn of a rosebush so that its song and blood will infuse the plant and give birth to a red flower. The rose produced by the nightingale's sacrifice is then plucked by a feckless student of philosophy to give to his unrequited love. In turn she rejects his offer, choosing instead the jewels proffered by another suitor, and the scholar turns back to the only kind of knowledge he comprehends—philosophy.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: From Oscar Wilde
  • Artist: Anselm Kiefer (German, born Donaueschingen, 1945)
  • Date: 1974
  • Medium: Watercolor and gouache on paper
  • Dimensions: 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. (40 x 29.8 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, in memory of her father, Joseph H. Hazen, 2000
  • Object Number: 2000.96.3
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Anselm Kiefer
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Morgenthau Plan, Anselm Kiefer German, Acrylic, emulsion, oil, and shellac on inkjet prints mounted on canvas
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Anselm Kiefer
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Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom, Anselm Kiefer German, Gouache, sand, ash and charcoal on two torn and pasted photographs
Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom
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Autumn Forest, Anselm Kiefer German, Watercolor, opaque watercolor, and graphite on papers
Autumn Forest
Anselm Kiefer
1970
Wild Emperor, Anselm Kiefer German, Watercolor and acrylic on paper
Wild Emperor
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Brünnhilde's Death, Anselm Kiefer German, India ink, watercolor, and acrylic on joined paper
Brünnhilde's Death
Anselm Kiefer
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