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Beyond Landscape

Featuring Anselm Kiefer’s der Morgenthau Plan (The Morgenthau Plan), 2012, and die Milchstrasse (The Milky Way), 1985–87

Anselm Kiefer (German, born 1945). Der Morgenthau Plan (The Morgenthau Plan), 2012. Emulsion and acrylic on photograph on canvas, 110 x 224 inches (279.4 x 569 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Sarah Norton Goodyear Fund, 2013 (2013:6a-c). Image courtesy the Gagosian Gallery. Photograph by Charles Duprat.

Lesson Plan Details

Conceptual Basis

Best known for his monumental textured paintings, German artist Anselm Kiefer’s encrusted surfaces of thick impasto confront themes of memory, history, identity, and culture. Through texture, Kiefer’s landscape paintings portray rough emotions and symbols with meaning to the artist. In this lesson, students will explore the principles of texture and landscape while reflecting on the personal significance landscapes may have on different people’s lives.