The book, the idea of a book or the image of a book, is a symbol of learning, of transmitting knowledge.. I make my own books to find my way through the old stories.
Anselm KieferRead
I am interested in reconstructing symbols. It's about connecting with an older knowledge and trying to discover continuities in why we search for heaven.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a quest for understanding and reconnecting with historical symbols and knowledge in the pursuit of a higher existence.
Anselm Kiefer's quote emphasizes the importance of reinterpreting and reconstructing symbols from the past as a means of exploring deeper truths about human experience and the ongoing search for transcendent meaning, often perceived as 'heaven'. It suggests that art is not just an expression but a bridge that links us to timeless wisdom, allowing us to acknowledge the threads of continuity in our cultural and spiritual journeys.
Themes
ArtSymbolsKnowledgeHeavenContinuity
In practice
Example use cases
In a gallery talk, discussing how Kiefer's work depicts religious and spiritual themes.
More from Anselm Kiefer
All quotes →Life is an illusion. I am held together in the nothingness by art.
Anselm KieferRead
Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.
Anselm KieferRead
But I believe above all that I wanted to build the palace of my memory, because my memory is my only homeland.
Anselm KieferRead
Similar quotes
I don't think in art there is ever a precedent; each moment is a new one and terrifying and threatening and bursting with hope.
Martha GrahamRead
This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Keep me up till five because all your stars are out, and for no other reason…Oh dare to do it Buddy! Trust your heart. You’re a deserving craftsman. It would never betray you. Good night. I’m feeling very much over-excited now, and a little dramatic, but I think I’d give almost anything on earth to see you writing a something, an anything, a poem, a tree, that was really and truly after your own heart.
J. D. SalingerRead
I have never heard a dancer asking for advice about how to stay focused on her footwork, or a painter complaining about the dull day-to-day task of painting. What task worth doing isn't worth daily effort? Do you think Michelangelo was having fun the whole time he was on his back painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling?
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.
Igor StravinskyRead
A graphic designer, you know, who understands ideas and understands that ideas are what makes the world go round, could change the world with a magazine. If one talent could do it right now, and everybody would stop saying it's the death of magazines.
George LoisRead