Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist born in Münchenbuchsee in 1879.
Paul Klee at a glance
- Born: 18 December 1879 in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland
- Died: 29 June 1940 in Muralto, Switzerland
- Nationality: German (born in Switzerland)
- Known for: Colorful, playful and dreamlike works, plus his color theory lectures
- Style or Movement: Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism; member of Der Blaue Reiter
- Education: Munich Academy, from 1900
- Taught at: The Bauhaus, 1920 to 1931
- Notable works: “Twittering Machine” (1922)
“Color has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it, I know that it has hold of me forever. That is the significance of this blessed moment. Color and I are one. I am a painter.”
Paul Klee grew up in a musical family and was himself a violinist, but after much hesitation he chose to study art, attending the Munich Academy in 1900 where his teacher was the symbolist painter Franz von Stuck.
Paul Klee’s early works were mostly etchings and pen-and-ink drawings that combined satirical, grotesque, and surreal elements, revealing the influence of Francisco de Goya and James Ensor, whom Paul Klee admired.
Paul Klee’s friendship with Wassily Kandinsky and August Macke led Paul Klee to join Der Blaue Reiter, an expressionist group, and a turning point in his career was his visit to Tunisia in 1914, where the intense light overwhelmed him and awakened his sense of color.
Paul Klee taught at the Bauhaus school from 1920 to 1931, where he wrote extensively on color theory, and his lectures are held to be as important for modern art as Leonardo da Vinci’s treatise on painting for the Renaissance.
- Born in Münchenbuchsee, near Bern, Switzerland.
- Studied at the Munich Academy in 1900.
- Joined Der Blaue Reiter expressionist group.
- Taught at the Bauhaus from 1920 to 1931.
- His work was labeled “degenerate” by the Nazis.
Paul Klee was dismissed from his teaching position by the Nazis, who termed his work “degenerate,” and he returned to Switzerland in 1933, where he came down with the crippling disease scleroderma, which forced him to develop a simpler style.
Paul Klee produced over 10,000 works during his career, and his late works are characterized by heavy black lines and reflections on death and war, but his last painting, “Still Life” from 1940, is a serene summation of his life’s concerns as a creator.