Lot 9 
9
Anselm Kiefer
Blutblume, 2004.
Mixed media. Acrylic on lead sheet, acrylic on ...
Estimate:
€ 100,000 - 150,000
$ 116,000 - 174,000
Anselm Kiefer
1945
Blutblume. 2004.
Mixed media. Acrylic on lead sheet, acrylic on paper on lead sheet. Each mounted on cardboard and bound together with fabric binding to form a 34-page book.
Unique object. 47.5 x 60.5 x 9.5 cm (18.7 x 23.8 x 3.7 in).
A lectern is included in this lot.
• ‘Blutblume’ (Blood Flower) uniquely interweaves form, content, and material.
• Its illegibility and inviolability lend the lead book a special aura.
• The fragility and heaviness of the lead, combined with the grace of the blood flower hidden between the thick pages, express the intrinsic paradoxes of existence.
• The lead book “ Blutblume ” exemplifies the intellectually rigorous voice that his oeuvre represents in contemporary art.
• Anselm Kiefer exhibited at the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale as early as 1980.
• Currently, the artist is honored in the grand exhibition “Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind” (Tell Me Where the Flowers Are) on the occasion of the inauguration of his monumental mural in the stairwell of the Stedelijk Museum.
• Starting in October 2025, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present the exhibition “Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea.”.
PROVENANCE: Galerie Ropac, Salzburg.
Private collection, Southern Germany (acquired from the above in 2004).
"The lead books are complete paradoxes,“ Kiefer remarked. They are like ”an allusion to the dialectic of being and non-being."
(Olivier Cena, "A la BNF, Anselm Kiefer expose ses livres sacrés“, Télérama, October 30, 2015, online)
Called up: December 5, 2025 - ca. 17.16 h +/- 20 min.
1945
Blutblume. 2004.
Mixed media. Acrylic on lead sheet, acrylic on paper on lead sheet. Each mounted on cardboard and bound together with fabric binding to form a 34-page book.
Unique object. 47.5 x 60.5 x 9.5 cm (18.7 x 23.8 x 3.7 in).
A lectern is included in this lot.
• ‘Blutblume’ (Blood Flower) uniquely interweaves form, content, and material.
• Its illegibility and inviolability lend the lead book a special aura.
• The fragility and heaviness of the lead, combined with the grace of the blood flower hidden between the thick pages, express the intrinsic paradoxes of existence.
• The lead book “ Blutblume ” exemplifies the intellectually rigorous voice that his oeuvre represents in contemporary art.
• Anselm Kiefer exhibited at the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale as early as 1980.
• Currently, the artist is honored in the grand exhibition “Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind” (Tell Me Where the Flowers Are) on the occasion of the inauguration of his monumental mural in the stairwell of the Stedelijk Museum.
• Starting in October 2025, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present the exhibition “Anselm Kiefer: Becoming the Sea.”.
PROVENANCE: Galerie Ropac, Salzburg.
Private collection, Southern Germany (acquired from the above in 2004).
"The lead books are complete paradoxes,“ Kiefer remarked. They are like ”an allusion to the dialectic of being and non-being."
(Olivier Cena, "A la BNF, Anselm Kiefer expose ses livres sacrés“, Télérama, October 30, 2015, online)
Called up: December 5, 2025 - ca. 17.16 h +/- 20 min.
For Anselm Kiefer, the medium of the book is a repository, a container, and a space for thought—a medium in which history, myth, and nature become intertwined. Kiefer's books are not legible objects in a conventional sense, but rather sculptural structures made of lead, plaster, cardboard, soil, sand, paint, or organic materials. They bear traces of growing and burning, of the fleeting and the enduring. They condense memory and transformation, matter and spirit.
For Kiefer, the book is both a symbol and a tool: a repository of collection, but also a means of concealment. It preserves knowledge that can no longer be deciphered; knowledge that requires intuition and feeling. Through his visual language, he triggers these emotions in the viewer. The unspeakable, the lost, and the repressed are hidden between heavy lead pages. Anselm Kiefer's books are, in a sense, paradoxes—heavy, silent, and yet eloquent. Their weight and materiality reflect the burden of history, but also opportunities to transform the past into new forms.
His artistic intent is to visualize processes that occur between life and death, growth and decay, memory and oblivion. His book objects distil this idea into a physical experience: the illegible becomes a symbol of the limits of human knowledge, while the surface of the books—layered, damaged, painted over—becomes a vessel for time and experience. [EH]
9
Anselm Kiefer
Blutblume, 2004.
Mixed media. Acrylic on lead sheet, acrylic on ...
Estimate:
€ 100,000 - 150,000
$ 116,000 - 174,000
Buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation for Anselm Kiefer "Blutblume"
This lot can be purchased subject to differential or regular taxation, artist‘s resale right compensation is due.
Differential taxation:
Hammer price up to 1,000,000 €: herefrom 34 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 1,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 29 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 1,000,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 22 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The buyer's premium contains VAT, however, it is not shown.
Regular taxation:
Hammer price up to 1,000,000 €: herefrom 29 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 1,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 23% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 1,000,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 15% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The statutory VAT of currently 7 % is levied to the sum of hammer price and premium.
We kindly ask you to notify us before invoicing if you wish to be subject to regular taxation.
Calculation of artist‘s resale right compensation:
For works by living artists, or by artists who died less than 70 years ago, a artist‘s resale right compensation is levied in accordance with Section 26 UrhG:
4 % of hammer price from 400.00 euros up to 50,000 euros,
another 3 % of the hammer price from 50,000.01 to 200,000 euros,
another 1 % for the part of the sales proceeds from 200,000.01 to 350,000 euros,
another 0.5 % for the part of the sale proceeds from 350,000.01 to 500,000 euros and
another 0.25 % of the hammer price over 500,000 euros.
The maximum total of the resale right fee is EUR 12,500.
The artist‘s resale right compensation is VAT-exempt.
Differential taxation:
Hammer price up to 1,000,000 €: herefrom 34 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 1,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 29 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 1,000,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 22 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The buyer's premium contains VAT, however, it is not shown.
Regular taxation:
Hammer price up to 1,000,000 €: herefrom 29 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 1,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 23% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 1,000,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 15% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The statutory VAT of currently 7 % is levied to the sum of hammer price and premium.
We kindly ask you to notify us before invoicing if you wish to be subject to regular taxation.
Calculation of artist‘s resale right compensation:
For works by living artists, or by artists who died less than 70 years ago, a artist‘s resale right compensation is levied in accordance with Section 26 UrhG:
4 % of hammer price from 400.00 euros up to 50,000 euros,
another 3 % of the hammer price from 50,000.01 to 200,000 euros,
another 1 % for the part of the sales proceeds from 200,000.01 to 350,000 euros,
another 0.5 % for the part of the sale proceeds from 350,000.01 to 500,000 euros and
another 0.25 % of the hammer price over 500,000 euros.
The maximum total of the resale right fee is EUR 12,500.
The artist‘s resale right compensation is VAT-exempt.
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