The Nazis ravaged his workshop in order to exhibit the booty at the Degenerative Art exhibition. They hated his pacifism and originality.
He did not consider abstractionism to be an ideal form of conveying information about the beautiful. The sad sage noted that people begin to avoid specifics in the work when they are afraid to look around themselves and, moreover, to retell what they see to the viewer.
Childhood
Music teacher Hans Wilhelm Klee from a suburb of Swiss Bern felt like the happiest man in the world when in 1879 his beautiful wife gave birth to a boy. The first-born was a girl, the second - the son of Paul, how much this family resembles the one where the brilliant Mozart grew up! The mother of the newborn, Ida-Maria, did not deny this resemblance. She was an opera singer and sentimental.
Swiss city of Bern, where Paul Klee spent his childhood
From infancy, the boy was assured that he would make a career as a musician. Success in playing the violin confirmed the opinion of parents. An eleven-year-old child prodigy performed in Bern at a concert by the City Music Association. The fact that the boy drew all school notebooks with funny figures did not interest any of the adults - his future was predetermined. The only person who saw the artist as a kid was grandmother.
Paul Klee in childhood
Youth
Paul nearly failed the final exam at the gymnasium - teachers were furious with caricatures in the fields of work, but who would spoil the life of a genius. Households were shocked by the teenager's statement that being a composer is not relevant right now, and the documents for admission have already been sent to the painting school of Heinrich Knirr in Munich. Adored child, it got away with it - he was forgiven and blessed on the way.
Educated in the field of painting, Klee was interested in the worldview of the master. In 1897, he began to keep a diary, where he recorded all his impressions and opinions about perfection in various drawing styles. His technique was considered imperfect, but an interesting approach to learning opened the doors of the Munich Academy of Arts to the innovator. There he became famous as the original and womanizer. The young man decided to bring order to his personal life only after marriage.
Self portrait. Artist Paul Klee
In search
Already in high school, our hero fell in love with traveling in Europe. He visited museums where the works of authors who contributed to the development of painting were exhibited, and also met with his colleagues. The student visited Italy and France, learned more about contemporary art. After receiving a bachelor's degree and returning to Bern, he began to invent his own drawing technique. In 1910, the first solo exhibition of a young artist in his hometown took place. He soon moved to Germany.
Garden of Passions (1913). Artist Paul Klee
In 1911, mutual friends introduced Paul Klee to Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Mark and August Macke. Our hero joined the Blue Horseman group. The works in the style of primitivism were very different from the paintings of his comrades and the common cause stalled. But our hero managed to persuade new friends to travel to Tunisia. This happened in early 1914.
Rethinking
The outbreak of World War I was received with enthusiasm by artists. Under the influence of militaristic propaganda, they volunteered for the front. Klee did not escape this fate. Waiting for an answer from the draft board, he painted patriotic watercolors. In 1916, he was first called up to a reserve unit, and then sent to an aviation school.
With the eagle (1918). Artist Paul Klee
The painter was preparing to join the battle when he learned about the death of Franz Mark. The widow of the artist gave his friends letters that her husband sent her shortly before the tragic end. What Paul read in them made a heavy impression on Paul. He cursed the war and changed the names of his previously written works so that they called not to kill, but to stop the massacre.
Troubling times
The audience welcomed the famous painter, who was able to express his pacifist views and repent for calls for violence. When the people rebelled against the Kaiser regime, Paul Klee supported the left forces. In 1919 he was invited to the Executive Committee of revolutionary artists. It was not easy to get to Berlin, the streets of which were fighting. The commissar on the way caught the news of the defeat of the Republicans.
Crystal (1921). Artist Paul Klee
In 1921, Klee got a teaching position at the Bauhaus art school-studio in Dessau. He sought out his pre-war friends, found many like-minded people. Unfriendly forces were also interested in the person of the painter - the Nazis did not like the artist’s beliefs and the presence of Jews among his relatives. It was possible to ignore the embittered herd until 1933, when Adolf Hitler seized power in Germany.
