The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of May 14, 2024
Lot's Wife
1989
Location: 229B Contemporary
Did You Know?
The subject of railroad tracks was inspired by the artist’s photograph of the Bordeaux rail facility.Description
Anselm Kiefer addresses the history and legacy of the Holocaust (in Hebrew: the Shoah) perpetrated by Germany. "We see railway tracks anywhere and think about Auschwitz," the artist said soon after painting Lot’s Wife. "It will remain that way in the long run." The drama of the railway tracks dissecting a barren landscape is heightened by the work's surface, dense with gestural marks and a range of materials, including salt. Referring to the fate of Lot's wife in the book of Genesis—who was turned to a pillar of salt when she looked back at the destruction of Sodom—Kiefer frames a historical narrative within a biblical one.- Anselm Kiefer
- Contemporary Gallery Reinstallation 2021. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).CMA 1991: "Notable Acquisitions" June 7-September 15, 1991, Bulletin 78 (June 1991), p. 109, repr.
- {{cite web|title=Lot's Wife|url=false|author=Anselm Kiefer|year=1989|access-date=14 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.8.b