Anselm Kiefer's Monumental Dual Exhibition in Pantin and Le Bourget

Anselm Kiefer presented two concurrent exhibitions in October 2012, occupying the new spaces of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Pantin and Gagosian Gallery in Le Bourget. The Pantin show, titled "Die Ungeborenen" (The Unborn), featured vitrines of fetuses and stones, erotic watercolors, thick paintings with electric charges, and Golem sculptures across four nave-like halls. Kiefer drew on a verse by Giuseppe Ungaretti, "Nel sonno, di non essere mai nati," and referenced the abolition of limbo by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. He installed lead hospital beds for the character Kundry from Wagner's Parsifal, scales weighing souls with lead, and a lead book incised with diamonds. At Le Bourget, in a renovated industrial space by Jean Nouvel for Larry Gagosian, Kiefer continued his exploration of monumental art as an ascetic practice, comparing his proliferating work to Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau. The exhibition included paintings of ghost flowers and installations of non-places, inspired by Walther von der Vogelweide's poem "Unter den Linden" and the Morgenthau Plan. Kiefer remarked, "I sell a lot, but it's a misunderstanding." The shows ran from October 18, 2012, to January 26, 2013.