The Swiss-born son of a musician, Paul Klee relinquished music in favor of painting and moved to Germany by the time he was 20. In Munich, Klee formed lifelong relationships with the great German avant-garde, among them Franz Marc, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Vassily Kandinsky. Klee, too, played an integral part in the development of twentieth-century art, as his highly influential and unique talents spanned Surrealism, Expressionism, Primitivism, Romanticism and Cubism. Following the lead of other painters, Klee took a trip to Tunis in 1914. There he experienced the clear, brilliant light of the Mediterranean. In several studies made in situ, as well as compositions made years later, like With the Mountain Range, Klee adopted a cubist grid and employed watercolors to portray the rich hues of the North African landscape. Ever attuned to the natural world, Klee drew from the energy and geometry of his surrounding landscape in even his most abstract explorations.
Details
- Artist Name: Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940)
- Title: With the Mountain Range
- Date: 1919
- Medium: Watercolor and gouache on laid paper
- Dimensions: 9-5/8 x 12-3/4 in. (24.4 x 32.4 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
- Accession Number: P.1953.030
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum
Object Information
Hans Goltz, Munich;
[Stadtsyndicus a.D. Kauth, Berlin, sold c. 1925 to];
Galka Scheyer;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena,1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.
Paul Klee: a Retrospective Exhibition
- Pasadena, Pasadena Art Museum, 1967-01-01 to 1968-12-31
The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, no. 260 p. 9
Gerlach-Laxner, Uta, Die Tunisreise: Klee, Macke, Moilliet, p. 63
Benz-Zauner, Margareta, Werkanalytische Untersuchungen zu den Tunesien-Aquarellen Paul Klees, pp. 181-182
Paul Klee Catalogue Raisonné, Volume 3, 1919-1922, no. 2094
Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, no. 305 pp. 273-274
The Blue Four. Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, and Klee in the New World, no. 109 pp. 147, 350
Additional Artwork by Artist
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