Paul Klee

(Münchenbuchsee/Bern 1879 - 1940 Muralto/Tessin)

Paul Klee, a German painter and graphic artist born on 18 December 1879, is one of the most important 20th century artists of classical modern art. His extensive oeuvre, which includes both painting and graphic art, includes Expressionism, Cubism, Constructivism, Primitivism and even Surrealism. Paintings, drawings and graphic works by Paul Klee can be found today in important art collections and museums worldwide and are also regularly presented by us at international art fairs.

In 1900 Paul Klee was admitted to the Munich Academy and began studying painting under Franz von Stuck. Since he could only gain a little from the lessons, Klee embarked on a six-month study trip to Italy as early as 1901. Back with his parents in 1902, he earned his living first as a violinist, but also devoted himself to his artistic education, which he continued. After travelling to Paris and Berlin, Klee finally moved to Munich, where he met Wassily Kandinsky, August Macke and Franz Mark in 1911, with whom he presented his works in exhibitions of the "Blaue Reiter". In 1920 Paul Klee followed Walter Gropius' call and accepted an apprenticeship at the Bauhaus, where in the following years he also wrote his theory on "Bildnerische Formenlehre". Until 1931, a diverse and significant part of his oeuvre was created in Weimar, in which he expressed his inventiveness in the form of various techniques and materials. Due to differences of opinion with his colleagues, he finally turned his back on the Bauhaus and went to the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 1933 the National Socialists dismissed him from his teaching post as a degenerate artist. After vacating his apartment in the same year, he emigrates to Bern, where he continues to work as an artist and produces numerous paintings and works on paper. From Bern, Paul Klee organized the sale of his paintings and drawings to America, as he did not want them to appear on the German market. Between 1937 and 1940, after a serious illness, Paul Klee's extensive and significant late work was created, which was marked by ambivalent themes such as his personal fate, but also by politics and sometimes humorous motifs. Even today, some 80 years after his death, Paul Klee's works are still topical and enjoy an unbroken interest in art circles, as shown by the regular exhibitions dedicated to the artist. Numerous works by Paul Klee can be found in private collections or renowned museums worldwide such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou or the Kunsthalle Hamburg.