The Royal Academy’s smaller galleries present a focused dialogue between Anselm Kiefer and Vincent van Gogh, developed in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It’s on view until 26 October at 6 Burlington Gardens, on the first floor.

The exhibition considers Van Gogh’s lasting impact on Kiefer, an influence that began more than 60 years ago when the young German artist travelled on a grant to follow in Van Gogh’s footsteps, from the Netherlands to Belgium, Paris and finally Arles.

Across three rooms, works by the two artists are placed side by side. Van Gogh’s late landscapes, painted in 1890, are shown alongside Kiefer’s large-scale canvases and sculptures made from lead, ash, straw and concrete. Kiefer also includes rarely seen small-scale drawings in the manner of Van Gogh, which at first glance could be mistaken for works by the Dutch painter himself.

The juxtaposition highlights differences as much as affinities. Van Gogh painted fields of wheat as symbols of vitality and renewal, while Kiefer treats similar motifs as markers of endurance and memory. Where Van Gogh’s language was colour and light, Kiefer’s is weight and material transformation. The exhibition suggests not imitation but absorption, Van Gogh’s “restless brushwork” becomes, in Kiefer’s hands.

A number of remarkable loans include the vibrant View from Montmajour by Van Gogh. For Kiefer, Van Gogh represents persistence in the face of adversity: “Van Gogh defies every setback; he does the impossible; he does not give up.”

Rather than a comparison of equals, the exhibition frames a conversation between two artists separated by time but linked by affinities.

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Image: Snow-covered field with a harrow (after Millet), 1890.