The Burda Museum stands in the elegant natural setting of the Lichtentaler Allée, a park in the center of Baden-Baden. Designed by Richard Meir, this elegant white cubistic building was constructed between 2002-2004 to house the extensive collection of modern and contemporary art  amassed by the German publisher and art collector, Frieder Burda. This architectural project was considerately and successfully linked to the Kunsthalle, a state museum in the neo-classical style, juxtaposing the two buildings and uniting them in height and color at a  cost €20 million/or approximately US$28 million. Henry and I have visited the museum twice: the first time in 2006 when we saw an extensive exhibition of the works of Marc Chagall; and, this year when the large-scaled paintings and sculpture of Anselm Kiefer* were on exhibition. During both visits, we found that the museum’s open plan with glass views of nature and a dramatic stairway ramp, formed the perfect setting for both smaller scaled and larger scaled works. In each of these exhibitions, the life of each artist and the subject matter, content, materials and styles were thoroughly revealed, the curatorial staff providing an unusually full understanding of the intent of each of these two diverse artists.

*NOTE: Anselm Kiefer (*b.1945, Germany) is considered to be one of the most important artists of our time. The works on exhibition included twenty large-scale format paintings completed since 1980, with an emphasis on recent work from the year 2001. The work reveals the artists ability to move between paintings and sculpture using a vocabulary of abstraction and figurative elements. His symbol-laden materials include lead, concrete, dried plants, glass, barbed wire, and relief-like layers of paint through which he expresses the German post-WW II zeitgeist or spirit of his particular generation.

No photography was allowed in this exhibition.

PHOTOS: Top: The Frieder Burda Museum by Richard Meir in the natural park setting of the Licthentaler Allee. Bottom Two: 1. The entrance façade of the museum with a work by Hans Arp. 2. Sculpture in bronze by Miro at the entrance terrace of the museum.

JOURDAN ARPELLE-ZIEGLER                                   BACK TO MAP  PAGE