Kiefer / Van Gogh at Royal Academy of Arts
28 June – 26 October 2025
London , 30 September,2025
Media Release
The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries | Burlington Gardens
Vincent van Gogh has had an enduring influence on Anselm Kiefer. See work by both artists side by side this summer.
In 1890 Vincent van Gogh painted his final works.
Seventy-two years later an eighteen-year-old Anselm Kiefer received a travel grant to follow in the footsteps of Van Gogh, starting in the Netherlands, through to Belgium, Paris and Arles in the south of France.
Kiefer has been inspired by Van Gogh’s work throughout his nearly 60-year career. The pioneer of Post-Impressionism has informed the subjects and techniques of Kiefer’s monumental paintings and sculptures which draw on history, mythology, literature, philosophy and science.
This focused exhibition, set across the three rooms of the RA’s smaller galleries, is the first to consider the lasting influence that Van Gogh has on Kiefer. It will feature works by both artists, including new pieces by Kiefer which haven’t been shown before.
This Exhibition developed in close collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
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Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow (after Millet), 1890
Vincent van Gogh has had an enduring influence on Anselm Kiefer Hon RA over the artist’s nearly 60-year career. The Royal Academy of Arts presents work by both artists, exhibited side by side for the first time in the UK. The exhibition brings together paintings and drawings by Van Gogh from the collection of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, with paintings, drawings and sculptures by Kiefer, including new work that has never been shown before. The presentation reveals similarities of thought, process and subject matter shared by the two artists but also reflects noticeable differences, offering visitors a new insight into both artists’ work.
Vincent van Gogh Shoes, 1886
Van Gogh was Kiefer’s first artistic inspiration. Kiefer first encountered Van Gogh’s work at age 18 when he received a travel grant to follow in his footsteps, starting in the Netherlands, through to Belgium, Paris and Arles, in the south of France. During his travels, Kiefer produced drawings inspired by Van Gogh and was profoundly influenced by the rational structure and compositional clarity of Van Gogh’s landscapes. Throughout Kiefer’s career, the pioneer of Post-Impressionism has informed the subjects and techniques of Kiefer’s monumental paintings and sculptures which draw on history, mythology, literature, philosophy and science.
Anselm Kiefer
Walther von der Vogelweide: Under the Lime Tree on the Heather (Walther von der Vogelweide: under der Linden an der Heide), 2014
Highlights of the exhibition include a selection of Kiefer’s celebrated large-scale landscapes, including The Crows (Die Krähen), 2019 (Courtesy of the Artist and White Cube) and Nevermore, 2014 (Courtesy Eschaton Foundation). These monumental works clearly encapsulate Kiefer’s admiration for compositional devices used by Van Gogh, through his adoption of high horizon lines, close-up imagery combined with deep perspectives and panoramic formats. They also reflect shared motifs of crows and wheatfields and a deep affinity towards painterly surface textures. Juxtaposed with seminal landscapes by Van Gogh, including Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow (after Millet),1890 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)) and Field of Irises near Arles,1888 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)), the exhibition allows visitors to consider Van Gogh’s enduring influence on Kiefer’s practice.
The exhibition also features drawings by both artists. The drawings Kiefer produced in his youth, inspired by Van Gogh during his journey in his footsteps, are presented alongside several of Van Gogh’s own drawings. La Crau Seen from Montmajour, 1888 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)), last exhibited in London over 50 years ago, is one of his most remarkable, both owing to its large size, analogous to paintings, and to the fact that it is notpreparatory or derived from a painting, but produced as an autonomous composition; a work of art in its own right.
Further highlights include Walther von der Vogelweide: under der Linden an der Heide (Walther von der Vogelweide: under the Lime tree on the Heather), 2014 (Courtesy of the artist and White Cube), a recent work by Kiefer, which has never been exhibited before, and a new sculpture created for the exhibition, depicting a tall sunflower emerging from a large pile of books, shedding golden seeds onto their lead pages. The sculpture is shown in dialogue with Van Gogh’s Piles of French Novels,1887 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)) and visualises the importance of literature and poetry to both artists; Van Gogh was one of the most well-read artists of the 19th century, and Kiefer makes words and literary references visually present in his work. Lastly, The Starry Night (De sterrennacht), 2019 (Courtesy of the Artist and White Cube), a monumental canvas of straw, gold leaf, and sediment of electrolysis by Kiefer leaves visitors with a lasting impression of his resounding admiration of Van Gogh through his interpretation of the iconic Starry Night.
Anselm Kiefer Hon RA Biography
Organisation
Exhibition developed in close collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. The exhibition is curated by Julien Domercq, Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts and Natasha Fyffe, Genesis Future Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Dates and Opening Hours
Dates: Saturday 28 June – Sunday 26 October 2025
10am – 6pm Tuesday to Sunday
10am – 9pm FridayAdmission
From £17; concessions available; under 16s go free (T&Cs apply); Friends of the RA go free.
25 & Under: 16 to 25 year olds can access a half-price ticket (T&Cs apply).
Tickets
Advance booking with pre-booked timed tickets is recommended for everyone, including Friends of the RA. Tickets can be booked in advance online (royalacademy.org.uk) or phone (0207 300 8090).
Accompanying Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with texts by Anselm Kiefer and Simon Schama.
Other Anselm Kiefer exhibitions and projects in 2025
7 March – 9 June 2025: Anselm Kiefer – Sag mir wo die Blumen sind, Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
25 June – 16 August 2025: Anselm Kiefer, White Cube Mason’s Yard, London
Art in Mayfair
Honorary Royal Academician Anselm Kiefer has been invited to create flags for the eighth year of Art in Mayfair, an annual immersive arts festival running alongside the RA’s summer season – including the annual Summer Exhibition and the Kiefer / Van Gogh exhibition – which celebrates the area’s vibrant arts and cultural scene. In celebration of Kiefer / Van Gogh, which explores the enduring influence Vincent Van Gogh has had on Kiefer’s work, the flags will feature recent paintings by Kiefer exploring Van Gogh’s iconic sunflower motif. The flags will hang above Bond Street from
16 June – 22 July 2025.
Social Media
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About the Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts was founded by King George III in 1768. It has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose isto be a clear, strong voice for art and artists. Its public programme promotes the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.
The Royal Academy is an independent charity. It does not receive revenue funding from the government so is reliant upon the support of its visitors, donors, sponsors, patrons and loyal Friends.
For public information, please print: 020 7300 8090 or www.royalacademy.org.uk
Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD
