Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera hosts The Secret Life of Plants. Anselm Kiefer in the Grothe Collection, the first monographic exhibition devoted to Anselm Kiefer in Barcelona. On view from October 2nd, 2026 to January 24th, 2027, it gathers works from Hans Grothe’s private collection and other collections, tracing the artist’s enduring fascination with memory, history, nature, mythology and literature.
Curated by Walter Smerling, the exhibition spans painting, sculpture, installation, photography and artist’s books, revealing the ideas and material experiments that connect Kiefer’s multifaceted practice.
Nature as a carrier of memory
The title comes from Kiefer’s 2001–2002 painting The Secret Life of Plants, for Robert Fludd, inspired by the English physician and philosopher. Here, plants evoke hidden knowledge, the passage of time and the intricate relationship between nature and human understanding.
Historical narratives, literary references and mythological imagery recur throughout Kiefer’s work, exposing the past’s persistent influence on the present. His richly layered materials give these themes physical weight, embedding questions of memory and knowledge in the very surfaces of his art.
Works from the Hans Grothe Collection and other private collections reveal the connections between Kiefer’s paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and artist’s books. Each medium offers a distinct perspective on his symbolic world, shaped by an enduring preoccupation with history, materiality and the limits of human knowledge.
ANSELM KIEFER, The Secret Life of Plants. Anselm Kiefer in the Grothe Collection, Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, Barcelona, Spain, 2 October 2026 – 24 January 2027
Photography courtesy of FUNDACIÓ CATALUNYA LA PEDRERA
