Faith, Hope, Love

Anselm Kiefer

1976 · India ink, watercolor, pastel, and graphite on joined papers · Modern and Contemporary Art

In this work, the earth takes the form of an artist’s palette. Rooted in the ground, the trees are identified as faith, hope, and love. Kiefer has explained that these virtues "are like the colors on the palette, the materials to paint with. It’s all material for the artist." This notion is reinforced by touches of one primary color on each tree and by the materiality of the surface, which is produced by heavy strokes of brown and ultramarine pastel and by the reflectivity of the pastel fixative.

Artist

Anselm Kiefer

Date

1976

Medium

India ink, watercolor, pastel, and graphite on joined papers

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, in memory of her father, Joseph H. Hazen, 2000