In the chapter of Liber Novus entitled ‘The Three Prophecies’, Jung’s ‘I’ asks his soul to dive down and explore the floods that the new god – the son of the earth – had brought. She returned with ancient remnants that pointed to the future: the misery of war, the darkness of magic, and the gift of religion. She later gave him the gift of magic and a magic rod.

This seminar will explore the work of the German artist Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) who employs themes of war, magic and religion in ways that exemplify Jung’s psychological message: the need to redeem distorted, rejected and suppressed images from the collective unconscious and put them to new use.

Diane is an art historian and senior member of IGAP. Author of two books and numerous articles on Florentine medieval and renaissance art, also served as guest editor and author for Harvest and editor of Francesco Donfrancesco, Soul-Making: Interweaving Art and Analysis (Routledge 2009). Her recent publications include ‘Intimations of the Self’: Jung’s Mandala Sketches, 1917’ in The Art of C.G. Jung (W.W. Norton & Company 2019) and ‘Enchanting the Unconscious’: Jung’s Reception in Great Britain, The Red Book and his English Seminars, 1919 & 1920 (Routledge 2025). She is currently completing a book themed around Jung’s visual imagery in The Red Book.

Arasse, D. Anselm Kiefer London: Thames and Hudson 2001/2024

Kiefer – Van Gogh Exhibition Catalogue Royal Academy and White Cube Gallery London, Wales: Gomer Press 2025

Lòpez-Pedraza, R., Anselm Kiefer. ‘After the Catastrophe’, London: Thames and Hudson 1996

Jung, C.G., The Red Book, Liber Novus A Reader’s Edition, New York and London: W.W. Norton New York 2009, “The Three Prophecies”, pp. 374-78.