Anselm Kiefer's Melancholia: Alchemy, History, and the Nigredo

Anselm Kiefer's work, particularly his series 'Melancholia,' is explored through the lens of alchemy, specifically the concept of 'nigredo' or the blackening stage. A lead Messerschmidt bomber plane, grounded and heavy, symbolizes the melancholic's paralysis. A glass polyhedron on its wing, a replica of Dürer's stone polyhedron, is filled with waste, becoming a trash bin. Kiefer's 'Schwarze Flocken' (2006) features snowfields with charred tree trunks and burned books, referencing Paul Celan's poetry and the vulnerability of knowledge. The exhibition 'Mélancolie – génie et folie en Occident' was held at the Grand Palais in Paris (October 13, 2005 – January 16, 2006) and later at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (February 17 – May 7, 2006). Kiefer's recent works were shown at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac and Yvon Lambert in Paris (October 21 – December 2, 2006). The article discusses the ambiguity of Kiefer's German nostalgia, linking it to Heinrich Heine's 'Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen' and the tragic contradiction in creation. Celan's poetry, especially 'Todesfuge,' unites blonde and black, gold and ash, in an alchemical operation beyond melancholy. Kiefer's use of lead, glass, and ash reflects a process of purification that remains incomplete, embodying a melancholic deuil without object.