Today is the anniversary of the painter Paul Klee who was born on 18 December 1879 in Munchenbuchsee, Switzerland and died on 29 June in Muralto. Klee’s artistic contribution lies not only in the numerous production of works, but also for the fundamental contribution given to the various currents of the time. Considered one of the most important artists of classical modernism of the twentieth century, his works contain elements from Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism. In this article we show you 5 of his most beautiful works of him. Senecio, 1922
Senecio is one of the most famous and important works of Paul Klee. The geometric shapes represent an extremely simplified face. Senecio is a manifestation of Paul’s sense of humor and African culture. Simple colors and shapes, Paul makes use of various shades of orange, red and yellow to reveal the portrait of an old man. This painting demonstrates the principles of Klee’s art, in which the graphic elements of line, planes of color and space are set in motion by an energy from the artist’s mind. Parting in the evening, 1922
The watercolor made by Paul Klee in 1922, during his teaching period at the Bauhaus, suggests a pathetic scene due to the German title Scheidung abends: “evening divorce”, in the literal translation. Rather than describing a cycle (the night that follows the day that follows night), the Swiss painter marks the precise moment in which day and night show their limits, their inability to be the other. The title fixes a precise moment of the day in the work: the object in question and time, a prolonged instant. The fact that at the center there is represented a daily event observable by all makes the work “democratic”. Flora on sand, 1927
In this work we can find the experiment discussed in class by the artist himself with a sheet of metal, sand and a violin bow. The oscillating vibrations obtained will express themselves in a corresponding rhythmic pattern in the sand. This urge to vibrate is transfigured by Klee into reality. The artists are the arch, the will of expression, the material and the intermediary, the figures in the sand are the last formal product. Main roads and secondary roads, 1929
The available area, usually small because it must be grasped in its entirety with a single glance, is chopped into many small portions. Given the smallness, the picture requires a close examination, focuses the visual attention in a small area within which the eye can travel with the minimum effort. Vertical lines of different inclination divide horizontal stripes of different colors of different consistency forming a discontinuous network. The inclination and the “scale” formed by the lines suggest a landscape perspective. Ad Parnassum, 1932
Created with a technique that Paul Klee himself defines Neodivisionism, a sort of pointillism dominated by compositions of primary colors, Ad Parnassum is a painting originating from a layer of colored squares, on which small bright points have been painted, together with the orange circle and lines, basic but at the same time evocative elements, capable of transforming an abstract composition into something strongly communicative. It is not known what one is observing in this painting, if a mountain, a pyramid or a house, one simply has to let oneself be carried away by the suggestions.
