INTRODUCTION
Every end coincides with a new beginning
Beginning and end, end and beginning: two extremes of the same timeline where each becomes cause and effect of the other. Just as every alpha has its omega, every system has its evolution.
In this eternal becoming, what place do we hold?
Time is the home we build and furnish with what we have, making it better for those who come after us. Our task, then, is not merely to exist, but to improve, innovate, and turn every transition into continuous evolution.
We cannot stop the course of time, but we can influence its journey, how we perceive it, and the meaning we give to it.
We bear an immense responsibility, but our capacity to create and transform is equally profound.
Anselm Kiefer, The Art of Time
Beginning and end thus become a perpetual cycle, masterfully explored by Anselm Kiefer, an internationally renowned contemporary artist who, with depth and sensitivity, transforms the stories of his past—steeped in the pain and complexity of memory—into a unique artistic language.
His exhibition “Fallen Angels”, held at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, from 24 March 2024 to 21 July 2024, is a powerful reflection on the passage of time.
Throughout the exhibition, Kiefer guides us towards a growing awareness: the things of life are constantly changing, and time becomes the guardian that, with a delicate touch, marks a before and an after.
Anselm Kiefer. Angeli caduti, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2024 © Anselm Kiefer. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
The signs of this time?
The materials, for example, that make up the artistic installation: lead, ash, clay, seeds. These elements are subject to time; they mutate and transform just like life itself.
Lead oxidises, changes colour, and becomes fragile, a symbol of transformation and the transience of the human condition. Lead has always awaited transformation through meticulous and delicate alchemical processes.
Ash, the residue of what has been consumed, evokes rebirth, the perpetual cycle of life and death.
Clay and seeds represent potential, the capacity to generate new life even in the most adverse conditions.
In this eternal cycle of beginnings and endings, our place, our opportunity, is to be guardians of time while also being capable of transforming and innovating, leaving a mark for future generations. Our mission, shared by every human being, is to make the passage through time not only bearable, but truly worth living.
Light and Shadow
Anselm Kiefer. Angeli caduti, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2024 © Anselm Kiefer. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
The centrepiece of the exhibition, “Engelssturz”, is a work over seven metres high that captivates every passer-by. Positioned in the palace’s Renaissance courtyard, the installation offers a clear and poignant depiction of the Apocalypse, in which Archangel Michael battles the rebel angels, such as Lucifer, who falls from favoured status and «light-bearer» into exile—and here too, his end marks his new beginning. A theme resonating between spirit and matter, between good and evil, representing a powerful metaphor for our relentless inner struggle.
Choosing to do good becomes a behaviour we choose to put into practice every day in the smallest things. A habit, a practice to protect and nurture, taking into account each individual while fostering a greater collective consciousness—the very collective consciousness born from past stories that teach us which futures we want to achieve and which new beginnings we can spark.
The artwork, with its brilliant and luminous gold, takes one’s breath away. It represents what should be elevated, while also prompting reflection on how the present could change and impact tomorrow if we do not alter how we act.
A ship that must be guided beyond the boundaries of today’s “us”, towards the horizons of tomorrow’s “us”. A continuation of today’s collective path, progressing into the future and taking on ever purer, nobler, and shared forms. Practices that do good.
Building Tomorrow with the Fragments of Yesterday
In the human condition, we have the extraordinary ability to recalibrate, gather the fragments of lost steps, and look back along the timeline.
It is precisely from that ending point that we can understand everything that brought us here. Only then can we move forward, without forgetting what has been done up to that moment, adding miles of road to the future we build for tomorrow’s “us” and for those who follow.
Every mistake, every fragment gathered, becomes a building block for a better tomorrow. Destruction is not an end in itself, but a necessary step towards creation. And in this continuous becoming, our gaze does not linger in the past; it anchors in the present to project into the future. Our mission is to build, improve, and evolve, aware that every step—even the most uncertain—contributes to our growth and to that of future generations.
Conclusion
The continuum of alpha and omega represents the eternal flow of reality, where every end carries the seed of its new beginning, and every beginning coincides with the beginning of the end (carrying the seed of its conclusion).
This perpetual cycle can be observed in nature and in our own existence. Nothing is static; everything is in constant motion and change.
What does this mean?
Stability becomes an illusion; the balance the whole world longs for lies in change, in growth. In today’s global market, evolution is rapid: the end of an economic cycle or the failure of a project represents an opportunity for innovation and rebirth.
How can we see reality through fresh eyes?
We can endeavour to recognise, wherever possible, the cyclical nature of success and failure—both inevitable conditions for building a sustainable future. Without fearing the dark, and without seeking to cling solely to the light at all costs.
Without disorder we cannot perceive order, and without darkness we cannot comprehend light.
Like two sides of the same coin, we cannot appreciate the day without knowing the night.
Through his art, Anselm Kiefer offers us a vision: even in the darkest moments, there is always the promise of a new dawn.
