Paul Klee (1879-1940) was a German artist whose works exhibited traits of surrealism, cubism, and expressionism. Throughout his life, Klee made multiple publications regarding the study of color and form (Writings on Form and Design Theory/Paul Klee Notebooks), and taught at Bauhaus School of Art, Design, and Architecture.
In Klee’s younger years, his parents encouraged him to pursue music professionally, but the option did not appeal to him, as he was not able to find a meaningful outlet for creative self-expression and introducing radical ideas, as he felt “modern music lacked meaning” for him. By the time Klee was a young adult, he was already skilled in drafting and had a knack for drawing caricatures. His parents reluctantly allowed him to start studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He excelled in drawing, but recounted experiencing struggle in color-sense, and felt that perhaps he would never successfully learn how to paint.
After graduation, Klee gained a few trustworthy and loyal collectors of his work, and began to study other artists based on their use of color. Klee, upon seeing Vincent Van Gogh’s work, said, “Permit me to be scared stiff.” He would later say that Van Gogh allowed him to see color as an expression of emotion.
A visit to Tunisia in 1914 changed Klee’s art direction and compelled him to begin experimenting with color as a separate entity from the subject of which they are part of. He noted that he was impressed by the quality of light there, and remaining faithful to a model was no longer important.
Colour has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it, I know that it has hold of me forever. Colour and I are one. I am a painter.
– Paul Klee
His later works became increasingly somber, a reflection of the political turmoil in Europe throughout the two World Wars. One of his last paintings, Death and Fire, was created when Klee was struggling with several painful illnesses.
I cannot be grasped in the here and now, For my dwelling place is as much among the dead, As the yet unborn, Slightly closer to the heart of creation than usual, But still not close enough.
– Paul Klee’s Epitaph
Foundations of Art, Design, + Digital Culture 