Grab

The theme of death runs throughout Kiefer's entire oeuvre. It finds its most poignant expression in his works revolving around the theme of the "Tomb of the Unknown Painter". Although, like all of Kiefer's works, these may be interpreted on numerous, sometimes conflicting levels, the reference here seems to be in relation to the fate of the "degenerate" artists persecuted under the dictatorial regime of Hitler's Third Reich. A related work from the same year, "Reumptio" underscores this interpretation, since above the grave floats a winged palette, a common symbol for the painter which appears in many of Kiefer's works. Set in a forest-like setting, the lone cross is, at the same time, a quiet memorial to the death of the Romantic tradition in Germany, after being usurped and exploited by Nazi art and culture. Nevertheless, Kiefer's work is embued with a sense of hope. By employing the Christian symbol of the cross, the artist implies that, like Christ, the purged artist, as well as the defamed Romanticism and Northern mythology so characteristic of German art and culture, will one day be resurrected and find their place in the "Heavenly Jerusalem".