Paul Klee

Paul Klee,  Maibild (May Picture), 1925. Oil on cardboard nailed to wood with original strip frame. 16 3/8 x 19 1/2 in. (41.6 x 49.5 cm)

Exercise from Paul Klee’s Colour Class, 1925

Paul Klee was a German-Swiss painter, who is considered to be one of the most highly influential figures of early 20th century Expressionism. Klee is most notable for his many abstract paintings focussing on colour and form, and his colour theory writings are considered hugely important. Klee’s art theories are well documented. In Pedagogical Sketchbook (1925), one of his several important essays on art theory, Klee tried to define and analyse the primary visual elements and the ways in which they could be applied. Klee gave a series of lectures on his colour theories at the Bauhaus between 1921 and 1931. His aim was to teach the foundations of colour and form to the students with a series of exercises. These unconventional exercises included a six-part rainbow shaped into a colour wheel. Klee set about seeking alternative ways in which to hold his paintings together visually. A benefit of utilizing small selections of colours was that the resulting impression appeared unified and harmonious. A significant aim was to translate simple colour exercise to the complex work of art.  His strategy was not only to integrate drawing and painting, but also with considerations of form, composition and content.

Klee’s visited Tunisia, where he was inspired by the colours and the light he saw there. From this experience Klee created his first abstract piece, ‘In the Style of Kairouan’. The coloured rectangles became his basic building blocks. I have been particularly interested in the way  Klee combined these blocks with a harmony which draws parallels to musical compositions. His selection of colour is very considered, using complementary pairs of colours as well as dissonant colours – much like in music where you find harmonious notes contrasted with dissonant ones. Some of Klee’s later works were noticeably darker with thick lines and fewer colours. He was diagnosed with Scleroderma, a wasting disease, in 1933. Which from therein limited his productivity as an artist. In 1937 Adolf Hitler and the Nazis deemed his work as ‘Degenerate Art’, seizing 102 of his public collection.