Although known for its wit and buoyancy, Klee's work shows a wide and complex range of emotions. Here a "figure," consisting of a head with an arm and a leg, is frozen in space, swimming through an opaque and heavy atmosphere. An amorphous black shape is floating on the left; is this the reason for the figure's terrified expression? Overhead hovers a form that may be a mountain or a tent, either the sought haven that is the refuge or the threat from which the figure flees. In contrast to the scene's ominous overtones, the dominant colors are soft pinks, mauves, and gray-blues; the principal components are defined with a delicate brush-stroked hatching in brown watercolor, which belies the terrified (or terrifying) expression of the main figure.
Details
- Artist Name: Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940)
- Title: Refuge
- Date: 1930
- Medium: Oil, tempera and watercolor on plaster grounded gauze mounted on cardboard
- Dimensions: 21-1/2 x 13-3/4 in. (54.6 x 34.9 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
- Accession Number: P.1953.065
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum
Object Information
Galka Scheyer;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena,1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.
German Expressionist Painting, 1900 - 1950
- Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.), 1957-10-25 to 1957-11-23
- Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1958-01-07 to 1958-02-09
- University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, 1957-12-03 to 1957-12-18
The Blue Four: Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee
- Los Angeles, University of California, Art Department, 1933-11-13 to 1933-12-01
The Universe: Creation, Constellations and the Cosmos
- Norton Simon Museum, 2001-02-04 to 2001-06-04
XVIIa Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte
- Venice, Biennale, German Pavillion, 1930-04 to 1930-10
Paul Klee: Paintings and Watercolors from the Bauhaus Years 1921-1931
- Des Moines Art Center, 1973-09-18 to 1973-10-28
Recent Pictures by Paul Klee
- Los Angeles, Putzel Gallery, 1937-11-15 to 1937-12
Seattle World's Fair
- Seattle Art Museum, 1962-04 to 1962-10
Paul Klee Memorial Exhibition [organized by MOMA]
- Los Angeles, Stendahl Art Galleries, 1941-05-08 to 1941-05-18
German Expressionism
- Pasadena Art Museum, 1961-04-25 to 1961-06-04
Paul Klee
- Los Angeles, Hollywood Gallery of Modern Art (Lorser Feitelson), 1935-07-31 to 1935-08
Klee exhibition
- Oakland Art Gallery, 1935-09-01 to 1935-09-29
30 Years of Painting, Water Colors, Drawings and Lithographs by Paul Klee
- Modern Institute of Art (Beverly Hills, California), 1948-09-03 to 1948-10-06
The Blue Four: Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee
- Los Angeles, Los Angeles Museum, 1933-10-04 to 1933-10-30
Paintings and Prints by Paul Klee
- San Francisco Museum of Art, 1937-01-12 to 1937-02-07
Paul Klee Memorial Exhibition [organized by MOMA]
- San Francisco Museum of Art, 1941-04-14 to 1941-05-05
Paul Klee: Fifty Paintings, Drawings and Prints from the Galka E. Scheyer Collection
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1959-10-24 to 1959-12-06
- Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, University Gallery, 1960-01-04 to 1960-02-08
- Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, 1960-03 to 1960-04
Paul Klee
- Norton Simon Museum, 1987-07-23 to 1988-05-15
Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California
- Norton Simon Museum, 2017-04-07 to 2017-09-25
Paul Klee
- Norton Simon Museum, 1986-06-05 to 1987-06-28
The Blue Four and Their Contemporaries
- Norton Simon Museum, 1991-06-20 to 1992-05-24
My Four Kings: Galka Scheyer and the Blue Four
- Norton Simon Museum, 2002-12-13 to 2003-04-14
The Spirit of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in the New World
- Norton Simon Museum, 1994-11-17 to 1996-01-14
- Haas, Robert B., Du, p. 47
- Paul Klee, p. 27
- Paul Klee, p. 17
- Giedion-Welcker, Carola, Paul Klee, p. 108
- Giedeon-Welcker, Carola, Paul Klee, p. 165
- Sandback, Amy Baker, Artforum, p. 127
- Huggler, Max, Paul Klee: Die Malerei als Blick in den Kosmos, 1969, p. 118
- The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 278 pp. 109, 119
- Glaesemer, Jürgen, Paul Klee: The Colored Works in the Kunstmuseum Bern, 1979, fig. e p. 140
- Boulez, Pierre, Le pays fertile de Paul Klee, 1989, pp. 163-166
- Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné, Volume 5, 1927-1930, 2001, fig. 5137 p. 419
- Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 335 pp. 319-321
- Grohmann, Will, Paul Klee, 2003, pp. 311, 401, 417
Additional Artwork by Artist
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