Artist in Focus - Paul Klee

Paul Klee (pronounced Klay) was born December 18th in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland in 1879. His first artistic direction was towards music, the piano and violin. In 1898 he hesitated between music and painting, but finally opted for the latter.

Klee’s artistic breakthrough came in 1914, after a trip to Tunisia. Inspired by the light there, Klee began to delve into abstract art.

Klee taught at the Bauhaus from 1921 to 1931, alongside his friend Kandinsky. Kandinsky and Klee formed the Blue Four (die Blaue Vier) with two other artists, Lyonel Feininger and Alexei von Jawlensky, and toured the United States to lecture and exhibit. Klee also had exhibits in Paris around this time, finding favour with the French surrealists.

Klee began teaching at Dusseldorf Academy in 1931 until he was fired under Nazi rule and moved to Switzerland in late 1933. Klee was at the peak of his creative output during this tumultuous period. He produced nearly five hundred works in a single year. His work is impossible to categorize; and moved freely and imaginatively from one style to another.