Paul Klee

Date of Birth: December 18, 1879

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Date of Death: June 29, 1940

Biography

Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist whose highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Klee was born on December 18, 1879, in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland. He was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually deeply explored color theory, writing about it extensively. His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality. His father was a German music teacher, and his Swiss mother was a trained singer, which heavily influenced Klee’s affinity for music and rhythm, often evident in his artworks. Klee studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he met Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, two artists who profoundly influenced his work. He later joined the Bauhaus school of art, design, and architecture, where he taught from 1921 to 1931. In 1933, the rise of the Nazis led to the closure of the Bauhaus, and Klee fled to Switzerland. Despite battling scleroderma, a painful skin disease, Klee continued to create art until his death on June 29, 1940, in Muralto, Locarno, Switzerland. His legacy endures through his prolific output of over 10,000 artworks and his profound impact on modern art.

5 Interesting Facts about Paul Klee

1. Paul Klee created over 10,000 works of art during his lifetime, including paintings, drawings, and etchings.

2. He was a talented violinist and considered a career in music before committing to visual arts.

3. Klee was deeply influenced by his travels to Tunisia in 1914, which had a lasting impact on his use of color.

4. He taught at the Bauhaus school of art, design, and architecture, which was a center for avant-garde ideas and practices.

5. Klee’s work was labeled “degenerate art” by the Nazi regime, leading to the confiscation of his works from German museums.

5 Most Interesting Quotes from Paul Klee

1. “A line is a dot that went for a walk.”

2. “Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.”

3. “Color possesses me. I don’t have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it.”

4. “One eye sees, the other feels.”

5. “The more horrifying this world becomes, the more art becomes abstract.”

Highest Net Worth Achieved

Paul Klee’s highest net worth is not well-documented since his career was primarily in the early 20th century, but his artworks have fetched millions of dollars at auction in the contemporary art market.