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Because Of My Calvinistic Upbringing, I Was Trained To Think That What You Do Has To Have A Purpose.

-Anselm Kiefer

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Because Of My Calvinistic

Anselm Kiefer

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Because Of My Calvinistic Upbringing, I Was Trained To Think That What You Do Has To Have A Purpose.

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When, At The End Of The 1960s, I Became Interested In The Nazi Era, It Was A Taboo Subject In Germany. No One Spoke About It Anymore, No More In My House Than Anywhere Else.

Because Of My Calvinistic Upbringing, I Was Trained To Think That What You Do Has To Have A Purpose.

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I Never See A Forest That Does Not Bear A Mark Or A Sign Of History.

I Am Against The Idea Of The End, That Everything Culminates In Paradise Or Judgment.

Buying Art Is Not Understanding Art.

I Was Interested In Transcendence From A Very Early Age. I Was Interested In What Was Over There, What Was Behind Life. So When I Had My First Communion I Was Very Disappointed. I Had Expected Something Amazing And Surprising And Spiritual. Instead All I Got Was A Bicycle. That Wasn't What I Was After At All.

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I Am Of The Opinion That There Are Artists And Non-artists. I Think That This Is The Way It Always Was And Always Will Be. I Do Not Believe That We Are In The Center Of The World. It Is Possible That There Are Gods Who Do Not Relate To Human. As An Artist, I Believe That It Is Possible To Depict These Forces.

Art Really Is Something Very Difficult. It Is Difficult To Make, And It Is Sometimes Difficult For The Viewer To Understand. It Is Difficult To Work Out What Is Art And What Is Not Art.

I Believe In Empty Spaces; They're The Most Wonderful Thing.

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When Knowledge Becomes Rigid, It Stops Living.

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History Speaks To Artists. It Changes The Artist's Thinking And Is Constantly Reshaping It Into Different And Unexpected Images.

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As An Artist You Have To Find Something That Deeply Interests You. It's Not Enough To Make Art That Is About Art, To Look At Matisse And Picasso And Say, How Can I Paint Like Them? You Have To Be Obsessed By Something That Can't Come Out In Any Other Way, Then The Other Things - The Skill And Technique - Will Follow.

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.

Life Is An Illusion. I Am Held Together In The Nothingness By Art.

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