Paul Klee: Artist

Paul Klee was a Swiss-German artist and one of the founding teachers of the Bauhaus. he had a close friendship with Wassily Kandinsky, who shared not only a love of painting and drawing, but philosophy and music. Each in their own way painted with music as a profound influence. The movements that influenced his art most were Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism. He is described as a natural draftsman which is evident in many of his geometric work. He also explored colour, this fascination deepening after a trip to Tunisia where the form, light and colour palette marked a change in his work.

He usefully described drawing as taking a line for a walk. Above is the iconic drawing that illustrates this point. This concept was a freeing to draw and mark make in an individual and instinctive way, rather than bound by the "rules" of drawing to create an accurate representation of an object or scene. As drawing underpins most forms of art, this was a huge permission and step change for artists and doodlers.

Klee painted a number of pictures using squares and grids. It is not cubist but more a flat grid style. The colours are what give the images depth. The image above uses more primary colours with tonal shades of the primary colours. The overall palette is rich and bright. The yellow triangles are like central jewels lighting up the frame. The large deep sun or moon also adds the element of a scene that could otherwise be purely abstract as well as adding a curved line in a very angular field. It is a symbol of light which had a weighty level of meaning during the first world war and the early Bauhaus years. 

This second image comprised mostly of colour blocks is much less defined than the picture above but is less abstract. The curved lines suggest domes to buildings, the small black squares, windows. It is a naive and abstracted rendition of a scene that may have painted directly from in Tunisia. The colour palette is earthy, with accents of violet and dark navy. I love it and could stare at it for hours for the colour and my favourite squares!

This image, Fish Magic, feels dark and disjointed in terms of the composition, the elements, fish, flower, circles floating in air or water. The diagonal line coming from the right offers a connection between the objects and offering a shower of water or light. the humour and playfulness of the 2 characters at the bottom of the picture also increase the sense of light. The very dark background allows the flower, fish and planets to shine. Beauty and connection is striven for despite the very dark times when the picture was painted.