  About the Artwork
  
  
  The architectural structure in this monumental painting was likely inspired by a brickworks that Kiefer saw while traveling in India. That building was in a perpetual state of construction and destruction: newly made bricks were stacked on top of it and then replaced as they were sold. Plumes of smoke suggest the fires within. Taken out of its socio-historical context, this building becomes an allegory of ephemerality. The stepped pyramidal form recalls the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs, Babylonian ziggurats, and Meso-American teocalli, all remnants of ancient cultures. The words in the corners translate to earth (upper right), sky (upper left), divinity (lower right), and mortals (lower left), which are the fundamental elements of German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s (1889–1976) concept of “das Geviert” (the square), a hymn to dwelling on the earth articulated in “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” (1954). 
 
From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)
  
  
  Title
  Das Geviert
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1997
  
  Artist
  Anselm Kiefer
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  born 1945
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  German
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Emulsion, acrylic, shellac, burnt clay, clay, wire, and sand on three panels of stretched linen or linen and cotton canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 110 1/2 inches × 24 feet 7 1/4 inches × 3 inches (280.7 cm × 7 m 49.9 cm × 7.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  Contemporary Art after 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Museum Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund and partial gift of the Sosnick Family in memory of Robert Sosnick
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2003.20
  
  
  Copyright
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