German artist Anselm Kiefer's first major U.S. museum exhibition in 20 years, "Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea," has opened at the Saint Louis Art Museum. The show features 40 works from the past half century, including five towering site-specific canvases in the museum's 1904 Sculpture Hall, with about half the works created in the last five years. Kiefer's Neo-Expressionist pieces blend nostalgia for the Rhine River with homages to the Mississippi, incorporating references to Indigenous Anishinaabe and Wabanaki spirits, Wagner's "Rhinemaidens," and poets Paul Celan and Gregory Corso.
The exhibition matters because it marks a significant return for Kiefer to the U.S. museum scene, showcasing his enduring Romanticism and ability to transform dismissed industrial landscapes into glittering spectacles. The show's focus on the Mississippi River and Rustbelt grandeur, exemplified by works like "Missouri, Mississippi" (2024), offers a powerful outsider's perspective on American mythos and the intersection of nature, industry, and cultural memory.