Urd, Verdandi, Skuld (The Norns) 1983

Anselm Kiefer made 'Urd, Verdandi, Skuld (The Norns)' with oil paint to create a deep and immersive space. The arching architecture is built up with layer upon layer of brown paint, troweled on to mimic bricks in a tunnel receding into a fiery vanishing point. These aren’t the neatly defined blocks of Renaissance perspective; instead, Kiefer offers us this rough, tactile surface, like the crumbling infrastructure of memory itself. Look at how the small strokes of white and pale blues, like spectral highlights, flicker across the composition, creating a kind of shimmering effect. The physical act of applying the paint becomes a way of reckoning with the past, of trying to make sense of the weight of history. It reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s paintings of buildings which also deal with the past. As with all great paintings, this one leaves you with more questions than answers.