Anselm Kiefer

Parsifal I

1973

Not on display

Artist: Anselm Kiefer born 1945
Medium: Oil paint on paper on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 3247 × 2198 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1982
Reference: T03403

Display caption

The Parsifal cycle comprises four large paintings, of which three are owned by Tate. The titles refer to Richard Wagner’s last opera Parsifal and its source in a 13th century romance by Wolfram von Eschenbach, which was based on the legend of the Holy Grail. The setting for this painting is Kiefer’s attic studio. The presence of a baby’s cot points to the birth and early life of the hero Parsifal. It also suggests that the artist’s studio is a place of genesis.

Gallery label, September 2004

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Catalogue entry

Anselm Kiefer born 1945

T03403 Parsifal I 1973

Oil on paper laid on canvas 3247 x 2198 (127 5/8 x 86 1/2
Inscribed 'Herzelayde' above centre right
Purchased from Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne (Grant-in-Aid) 1982
Prov: Purchased from the artist by Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne 1982
Exh: Anselm Kiefer, Galerie im Goethe-Institut/Provisorium, Amsterdam, Sept.-Oct. 1973 (no number, repr.); New Art at the Tate Gallery, Tate Gallery Sept.-Oct. 1983, (no number, repr. p.32 as 'Parsifal III'); Forty Years of Modern Art 1945-1985, Tate Gallery, Feb.-April 1986 (not in cat.)
Lit: Bazon Brock, 'In Venedig', Kunstforum International, vol.40, July-Aug. 1980, pp.102-3; Anselm Kiefer, exh.cat., Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf 1984, repr. pp.30-32 (12a as 'Parsifal III')

See entry for T03405.

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1984-86: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions Including Supplement to Catalogue of Acquisitions 1982-84, Tate Gallery, London 1988, p.514