“But I believe above all that I wanted to build the palace of my memory,” the German artist Anselm Kiefer has said of his practice, “because my memory is my only homeland.” Famous for monumental paintings and installations that explore mortality, beauty, and evil, Kiefer builds layers of historical reference into his work—an insistent form of remembering. He creates those layers with natural materials such as earth, lead, wood, sand, and hay, all enmeshed in oil paint. For the occasion of the Venice Biennale, Kiefer considers the Palazzo Ducale, where he is installing a series of paintings in the Sala dello Scrutinio. His inspiration is the 33 monumental affreschi on the palace’s ceilings. —Elena Clavarino