Anselm Kiefer in Valencia: Manama's stroll through the CAHH

(translated from French)

Until Sunday 25 October 2026, the Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero (CAHH) in Valencia, Spain, is showing Anselm Kiefer, including Danaë, a work more than 13 metres wide. Manama, an artist from Liège and a former journalist at RTBF, stepped through the museum's doors. Here is her mood piece, followed by everything you need to know to go before the exhibition closes.

Who is Manama?

Manama is an artist from Liège, Belgian-Spanish-Moroccan. She lived several lives before the canvas, including one as a journalist at RTBF, Belgium's French-language public broadcaster.

One single approach, from painting to writing: art as a mirror. Her texts are not about her, they are a passage. When Manama paints, she does not share what she feels, she lays it down in the material so that the viewer experiences it. Doubt, joy, shock, hesitation. Her mood pieces follow exactly the same principle. Museum, encounter, restaurant, architecture: Manama does not write to report but so that readers come out of the text the way she herself came out of the room, the table, the conversation. Feel, then make others feel.

Beauty will save the world, said Dostoevsky. Manama adds: so will emotion, as long as you pass it on!

Manama's cultural mood piece

I love museums I usually leave more inspired and more open to the world than when I wake up - let's be honest - a bit dejected about the state of the world.

Sometimes - and consistency is not my strong suit - I grumble at the mere thought of going. Parking the car (yes, in Liège, Belgium, we say "parquer" for that), taking on the parking meters and braving the alleys with their bulging cobblestones lying in wait for your every step. I'm fed up to the back teeth before I've even pushed the door open!

Not long ago, I plan an expedition to the CAHH, the Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero in Valencia.

I grumble all over again trying to pronounce the name without sounding like a French speaker with an accent you could cut with a knife. Big fantasy: that my dark hair might, just once, pass me off as a real Spaniard. Non peut-être? (Belgian for: well, obviously!)

Past the rounded cobblestones and the tides of tourists, I reach the patio! The residence is historic, a plunge back a few centuries. I hear knights' armour echoing... No! It's huge metal letters on the walls and multicoloured lights cast by gigantic clustered sculptures. The transparency of the pieces goes to my head. Now that's tof! (Belgian for: brilliant!)

I leave the permanent collection for the temporary one, the one that justifies the trip: a German painter whose name I manage - phew! - to pronounce. Anselm Kiefer, a leading figure of neo-expressionism. Born in 1945. I'll happily do a cartwheel and a somersault in the courtyard if he wasn't marked by the Second World War.

First canvas, ground floor. It reveals itself slowly, as if the architecture had been designed to let the emotion trickle down drop by drop. Large format: what a slap in the face! Your gaze travels upward, where gold leaf offers a kind of hope or bliss, after the fight. At the bottom, the battle: burnt wood, branches, roots, even a trunk, kilos of lead, iron, clay, sand. A whole magnificent brol (Belgian for: jumble). Under the weight of the canvas, I collapse onto the bench opposite. Floored.

Kiefer urges me to carry on with the visit. He's still alive!

With photos and interviews to back it up, he explains his technique and his intention. For the lead, he swapped the brush for a tractor that tips the contents of a bucket onto a gigantic canvas, lying flat, tortured. Acids, hot metals, resin, shellac, burning. The canvas works too, and Kiefer sometimes waits a year to get a result. Sometimes longer. His work is alive.

Often abstract, his canvases sometimes keep a figurative centre. For those who want it.

Don't leave without taking on the thirteen-metre piece. Danaë: Tempelhof airport in Berlin (and the myth) under a shower of gold. Fresco, sculpture, thick canvas, a new wing of the palace-museum? I no longer know. I have shivers. The reliefs simulate spaces and demand that you step inside. Entering the drawing (figurative, this time), the flesh of the work, to grasp history, memory, transformation and destruction. Everything a child of war has laid down in it.

No somersault... Or maybe? Qué piensas?

The exhibition is still on until 25 October.

Nathalie Marly, aka Manama (@manamamoi)

Visiting the Anselm Kiefer exhibition at the CAHH: step by step

First, note the closing date. The Anselm Kiefer exhibition ends on Sunday 25 October 2026. That day, the centre closes at 3pm: for the last possible visit, come in the morning.

Second, pick your time slot. The CAHH is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 8pm and on Sunday from 10am to 3pm. It is closed on Monday.

Third, get your ticket. General admission is €12 according to the Visit Valencia tourist office, with a 20% discount for Valencia Tourist Card holders. Tickets are sold online on the official CAHH website. Check prices before you go.

Fourth, come on foot. The CAHH is at Calle del Mar, 31, 46003 Valencia, in the old town (Ciutat Vella). The alleys are cobbled and often busy: wear good shoes, as Manama advises, and allow a little extra time.

Fifth, follow Manama's route. Start with the patio and the palace's permanent collection, then move on to the temporary exhibition. Take your time in front of the first large canvas on the ground floor, and don't leave without seeing Danaë, more than 13 metres wide: Tempelhof airport, in Berlin, under a shower of gold.

Frequently asked questions

How long can you see Anselm Kiefer at the CAHH in Valencia?

Until Sunday 25 October 2026. On Sundays, the centre closes at 3pm.

What are the CAHH opening hours?

Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 8pm, Sunday from 10am to 3pm. Closed on Monday.

How much is admission?

€12 for general admission according to Visit Valencia, with a 20% discount for Valencia Tourist Card holders. Check the official CAHH website before your visit.

Where is the CAHH?

Calle del Mar, 31, 46003 Valencia, in the historic centre of Valencia, Spain.

What is Danaë?

A work by Anselm Kiefer more than 13 metres wide that depicts the interior of Tempelhof airport, in Berlin, under a shower of gold, in reference to the myth of Danaë. According to Visit Valencia, it had only been shown in New York before Valencia.

Who is Manama?

An artist from Liège, Belgian-Spanish-Moroccan, and a former RTBF journalist. She paints and writes cultural mood pieces. You can follow her on Instagram: @manamamoi.

Further reading

• Painting and street art in Valencia: Sorolla, IVAM, El Carmen
• Javier Molins, artistic director of the CAHH

Sources

• Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero (official website)
• Visit València: from New York to Valencia, Anselm Kiefer