Ever since his study with the sculptors Peter Dreher and Horst Antes, in the 1960s, Anselm Kiefer has used his craft to search for meaning amid the intangibles—myth, death, memory. It’s a quest, he once said, to achieve the “representation of the incomprehensible and the non-representational.” Less known is Kiefer’s fascination with Vincent van Gogh, whose work he’s studied since childhood. As a teenager he traveled to the Netherlands and Belgium to shadow the painter’s footsteps. Later he would absorb the paintings and landscapes of his predecessor into his own masterpieces. In 2019, Kiefer created his own Starry Night, but his swirling sky was made with paint, shellac, straw, wood, and wire. The most “striking element of Kiefer’s work in relationship with Van Gogh,” says Edwin Becker, the director of the Van Gogh Museum, “is that he’s not so much interested in the myth of the artist. It’s more that he is struck by the compositions and the construction of the picture plane—that’s what he’s referring to all the time.” This major exhibition, which brings the two titans together, is spread across two museums. It’s the show of the year. —Elena Clavarino