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| 1916 Paul Klee as a soldier during WWI |
Paul Klee was born on December 18, 1879, in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, into a family of musicians. His childhood love of music was always to remain profoundly important in his life and work. From 1898 to 1901 Klee studied in Munich, first with Heinrich Knirr, then at the Kunstakademie under Franz von Stuck. Upon completing his schooling, he traveled to Italy. It was the first in a series of trips abroad that nourished his visual sensibilities. He settled in Bern in 1902. A series of his satirical etchings was exhibited at the Munich Secession in 1906. That same year Klee married Lily Stumpf, a pianist, and moved to Munich. There he gained exposure to Modern art. Klee’s work was shown at the Kunstmuseum Bern in 1910 and at Moderne Galerie, Munich, in 1911.
Klee met Alexej Jawlensky, Vasily Kandinsky, August Macke, Franz Marc, and other avant-garde figures in 1911; he participated in important shows of advanced art, including the second Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) exhibition at Galerie Hans Goltz, Munich, in 1912, and the Erste deutsche Herbstsalon at the Der Sturm Gallery, Berlin, in 1913. In 1912 he visited Paris for the second time, where he saw the work of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, and met Robert Delaunay. Klee helped found the Neue Münchner Secession in 1914. Colour became central to his art only after a revelatory trip to Tunisia in 1914.
In 1920 a major Klee retrospective was held at the Galerie Hans Goltz, Munich; his Schöpferische Konfession was published; he was also appointed to the faculty of the Bauhaus. Klee taught at the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1921 to 1926 and in Dessau from 1926 to 1931. During his tenure, he was in close contact with other Bauhaus masters such as Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger. In 1924 the Blaue Vier (the Blue Four), consisting of Lyonel Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, and Klee, was founded. Among his notable exhibitions of this period were his first in the United States at the Société Anonyme, New York, in 1924; his first major show in Paris the following year at the Galerie Vavin-Raspail; and an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1930. Klee went to Düsseldorf to teach at the Akademie in 1931, shortly before the Nazis closed the Bauhaus. Forced by the Nazis to leave his position in Düsseldorf in 1933, Klee settled in Bern the following year. Seventeen of his works were included in the Nazi exhibition of “degenerate art,” Entartete Kunst, in 1937. Major Klee exhibitions took place in Bern and Basel in 1935 and in Zurich in 1940. Klee died on June 29, 1940, in Muralto-Locarno, Switzerland.
biography from Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
This part 1 of a 14-part series on the works of Paul Klee:
Note: A lot of artwork descriptions finish with “mounted on card.” Klee would mount a large proportion of his work onto cardboard, where he would draw a line beneath the work, and add the title / date / description of the work.
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| 1883 Christkind ohne Flügel |
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| 1884 Picture of Christmas Tree with Santa Claus and Railway Train |
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| 1885 Child's Drawing, Representing Five Sisters |
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| 1885 Christ Child with Yellow Wings |
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| 1893 Sketch graphite on paper mounted on paper 7.6 x 13.3 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1895 Hilterfingen ink on paper 9.5 x 16.9 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
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| 1895 Thunersee near Schadau ink on paper 9.9 x 16.8 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
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| 1896 My Room pen and ink wash 12 x 19 cm Klee Foundation, Bern, Switzerland |
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| 1901 Untitled ( Two fish, a hook, a worm ) pen and watercolour on card 16.2 x 23.2 cm |
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| 1903 The Artist's Sister |
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| 1903 The Comedian etching on zinc 11.8 x 16.1 cm ( plate ) Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland |
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| 1903 Two Men Meet, Each Believing the Other to Be of Higher Rank etching 11.7 x 22.6 cm ( plate ) Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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| 1903 Virgin in the Tree etching 23.7 x 29.7 cm ( plate ) Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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| 1904 Comedian ( Invention 4 ) etching 15.2 x 16.5 cm ( plate ) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
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| 1904 Perseus - The Triumph of Brain over Body etching National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1904 The Monarchist etching and aquatint National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1904 Woman and Animal etching in black on zinc, with stippling, on white wove paper 19.7 x 22.2 ( plate ) Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1905 Act pencil and watercolour on board Paul Klee Foundation, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland |
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| 1905 Aged Phoenix ( Invention 9 ) etching 27.3 x 19.7 cm ( plate ) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
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| 1905 Cat with Ginger Spots licking itself reverse glass painting Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland |
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| 1905 Couple Mauvais Genre reverse glass painting 18 x 13 cm |
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| 1905 Hero with the Wing etching 25.7 x 16 cm |
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| 1905 Threatening Head etching on zinc 19.7 x 14.5 cm ( plate ) Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland |
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| 1906 Hesitation |
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| 1906 Portrait of Mrs von Sinner, Berne watercolour 51.3 x 39.5 cm |
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| 1907 Rising Sun oil 30.4 x 24.3 cm |
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| 1908 Apparatus for the Magnetic Treatment of Plants pen and ink on paper mounted on card 22.2 x 28.2 cm Private Collection |
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| 1908 Sketch of Felix Klee ink wash on paper, bordered with ink, mounted on card 32.7 x 25.1 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1909 Still Life with Four Apples oil and gouache on board 34.3 x 28.2 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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| 1909 The Artist at the Window watercolour and chalk 30 x 24 cm Private Collection |
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| 1909 The Friends ink on monotype on board 23.8 x 32.1 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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| 1909c Drinker etching and drypoint 21.7 x 15.3 cm ( plate ) Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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| 1910 Flower Stand, Watering Can and Bucket watercolour on paper mounted on card 13.9 x 13.3 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich |
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| 1910 Garden drypoint 9.7 x 13 cm ( plate ) Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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| 1910 Gardening near Munich watercolour on paper mounted on card 23.5 x 30.8 cm Private Collection |
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| 1910 Hannah ink on paper mounted on card 32.1 x 24.1 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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| 1910 White Blossom in the Garden oil on paper laid down on paper 17.8 x 17.2 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
1911 Candide by Voltaire:
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| 1911 Candide by Voltaire |
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| 1911 Candide by Voltaire "He raises the veil with a timid hand" |
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| 1911 Candide by Voltaire "Place, place for the Reverend Father Colonel" |
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| 1911 Candide by Voltaire "While Two Monkeys Followed Them by Biting their Buttocks" |
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| 1911 Railway Station drypoint on celluloid 14.8 x 19.9 cm ( plate ) |
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| 1912 Group of Houses gouache on watercolour on paper mounted on card 15.5 x 16 cm Private Collection |
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| 1912 Street Lamps watercolour on paper mounted on card 12.3 x 23.5 cm Private Collection |
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| 1912 Tragedy on Stilts lithograph 23 x 15.8 cm ( sheet ) |
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| 1912 Villa ( aka Villa with Three Figures ) pen and brush on paper mounted on card 22.2 x 21.1 xm Private Collection |
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| 1913 Flower Bed oil on cardboard 28.2 x 33.7 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York |
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| 1913 Garden of Passion etching 9.4 x 14.3 cm ( plate ) Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| 1913 Mother and Child gouache and ink on paper mounted on card 10 x 11.5 cm Private Collection |
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| 1913 Road Junction charcoal, pen and ink and watercolour on paper mounted on cardboard 13.4 x 26 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich |
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| 1913 Suicide on a Bridge line bock reproduction 26 x 19.4 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Modern Art, New York |