Artists Of The 20th Century: Paul Klee

A definitive biography accompanied by spectacular images of the artist's greatest work.

Born in 1879 near Bern, Switzerland, Paul Klee was part poet and visionary, part disciplined craftsman and well-regulated bourgeouis. The son of a music teacher, Klee learned to play the violin to near-professional standard. This early musical training would influence his artistic theories and practice for the rest of his career.

Klee joined the Bauhaus in 1920, which was the perfect theatre to unfold his teaching methods; an art school devoted to re-uniting the fine and applied arts, and arhitecture, in a manner suitable for an industrial age. From 1933 until his death in 1940, a progressive simplification of his means accompanied a progressively more intense and powerful expression.

The works of Paul Klee have been of enormous importance in the development of modern art; at a time of uncertainty and loss of direction in art, he was a source of confidence and admiration.