Paul Klee was a prolific Swiss and German artist best known for his
large body of work, influenced by cubism, expressionism and surrealism.
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, on December 18,
1879. Klee participated in and was influenced by a range of artistic
movements, including surrealism, cubism and expressionism. He taught
art in Germany until 1933, when the National Socialists declared his
work indecent. The Klee family fled to Switzerland, where Paul Klee died
on June 29, 1940.
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| Paul Klee - image Wikipedia |
Early Life
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland,
on December 18, 1879. The son of a music teacher, Klee was a talented
violinist, receiving an invitation to play with the Bern Music
Association at age 11.
As a teenager, Klee’s attention turned
from music to the visual arts. In 1898, he began studying at the Academy
of Fine Arts in Munich. By 1905, he had developed signature techniques,
including drawing with a needle on a blackened pane of glass. Between
1903 and 1905, he completed a set of etchings called Inventions that would be his first exhibited works.
Rise to Prominence
In 1906,
Klee married Bavarian pianist Lily Stumpf. The couple had a son, Felix
Paul. Klee’s artwork progressed slowly for the next five years. In 1910,
he had his first solo exhibition in Bern, which subsequently traveled
to three Swiss cities.
In January 1911, Klee met art critic
Alfred Kubin, who introduced him to artists and critics. That winter,
Klee joined the editorial team of the journal Der Blaue Reiter,
co-founded by Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. He began working on
color experiments in watercolors and landscapes, including the painting In the Quarry.
Klee’s
artistic breakthrough came in 1914, after a trip to Tunisia. Inspired
by the light in Tunis, Klee began to delve into abstract art. Returning
to Munich, Klee painted his first pure abstract, In the Style of Kairouan, composed of colored rectangles and circles.
Klee’s
work evolved during World War I, particularly following the deaths of
his friends Auguste Macke and Franz Marc. Klee created several
pen-and-ink lithographs, including Death for the Idea, in reaction to this loss. In 1916, he joined the German army, painting camouflage on airplanes and working as a clerk.
By
1917, art critics began to classify Klee as one of the best young
German artists. A three-year contract with dealer Hans Goltz brought
exposure as well as commercial success.
Klee taught at the
Bauhaus from 1921 to 1931, alongside his friend Kandinsky. In 1923,
Kandinsky and Klee formed the Blue Four with two other artists, Alexej
von Jawlensky and Lyonel Feininger, and toured the United States to
lecture and exhibit work. Klee had his first exhibits in Paris around
this time, finding favor with the French surrealists.
Klee began
teaching at Dusseldorf Academy in 1931. Two years later, he was fired
under Nazi rule. The Klee family moved to Switzerland in late 1933. Klee
was at the peak of his creative output during this tumultuous period.
He produced nearly 500 works in a single year and created Ad Parnassum, widely considered to be his masterpiece.
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