Paul Klee

Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, near Bern, Switzerland, in 1879. He began his studies at Munich’s art academy in 1898, under Franz von Stuck. In 1901 he travelled to Italy and spent several months studying art in Rome. In 1905 he visited Paris for the first time. His first solo exhibition was presented in 1910 at the Kunstmuseum Bern. In 1912 he was represented in the second exhibition of the artists’ group the Blauer Reiter. In 1914 he travelled to Tunisia, visiting among other spots the capital, Tunis. In 1916 he was drafted into the military. In Zurich in 1919 he came into contact with the Dada circle. In 1920 Walter Gropius invited him to teach at the Bauhaus in Weimar, and he moved there the following year. In 1924 he was a co-founder of the Blaue Vier, together with Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky and Alexej von Jawlensky. When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1926 Klee moved into one of its master’s houses. In 1928 he travelled to Egypt. Klee left the Bauhaus in 1931 and assumed a professorship at Düsseldorf’s art academy, where he taught painting techniques. After the National Socialists seized power in 1933, he was dismissed from his duties and returned to Bern. His art was condemned by the National Socialists as “degenerate”, and 102 of his works were confiscated from public collections. Klee’s most productive year was 1939, in which he produced 1,253 works. A year later he died in Locarno-Muralto in Switzerland.