Home > Paul Klee

Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee , near Bern, Switzerland, into a musical family - his father, Hans Klee , taught music at the Hofwil Teacher Seminar near Berne. In his early years, Paul wanted to be a musician, but decided on the visual arts in his teen years. He studied art in Munich with Heinrich Knirr and Franz von Stuck . After travelling to Italy and then back to Bern, he settled in Munich, where he met Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and other avant-garde figures, and became associated with the Blaue Reiter.

In 1914Events January 4 77 seal hunters freeze to death on ice near Labrador January 5 Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor February 13 Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Compos, he visited TunisiaTunisia is a Muslim Arab country situated on the North African Mediterranean coast. It borders on Algeria to the west and Libya to the south and east. El-joumhouriyya et-Tounisiyya Official language Arabic Capital Tunis President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali P and was impressed by the quality of the light there, writing "Color has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it, I know that it has hold of me forever ... Color and I are one. I am a painter."

Klee worked in oil paint, watercolours, inkAn ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for colouring a surface to render an image or text. Common perceptions consider ink for use in drawing or writing with a pen or brush. However, inks are used most extensively in printing. and other media, often combining them in one work. He has been variously associated with expressionismExpressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for emotional effect. Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, film, and architecture. Additionally, the term often implies emotional angst the number of ch, cubismGeorges Braque, 1913 Cubism was an avant-garde art movement that revolutionised European painting and sculpture in the early 20th century. The essence of cubism is that instead of viewing subjects from a single, fixed angle, the artist breaks them up into and surrealism but his pictures are difficult to classify. They often have a fragile child-like quality to them, and are usually on a small scale. They frequently allude to poetry, music and dreams and sometimes include words or musical notation. The later works are distinguished by spidery hieroglyph-like symbols. His better known works include Southern (Tunisian) Gardens ( 1919), Ad Parnassum ( 1932) and Embrace ( 1939).

Following World War I, Klee taught at the Bauhaus, and from 1931 at the Düsseldorf Academy, before being denounced by the Nazi Party for producing " degenerate art".

Composer Gunther Schuller also immortalized seven works of Klee's in his Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee. The studies are based on a range of works, including Alter Klang [Antique Harmonies], Abstraktes Terzett [Abstract Trio], Little Blue Devil, Twittering Machine, Arab Village, Ein unheimlicher Moment [An Eerie Moment], and Pastorale.

In 1933, Paul Klee returned to Switzerland where he died in Bern.

Today, a painting by Paul Klee can sell for as much as US$7.5 million.

A museum dedicated to Paul Klee and showing a large part of his Oeuvre is currently being built in Bern, Switzerland, to be opened in 2005. The architect was Renzo Piano.