Paul Klee

(probably) Lily Klee, Bern (by descent from the artist in 1940)
(probably) Klee Gesellschaft, Bern (acquired by 1946)
Walter & Gertrud Hadorn, Bern (acquired before 1962)
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above in 1962)
Galerie Tarica, Geneva & Paris (acquired from the above in 1963)Berggruen & Cie, Paris (acquired from the above in 1964)
Saidenberg Gallery, New York (acquired from the above in 1964)
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above in 1968)
Saidenberg Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in the mid 1980s

 

Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Klee, 1963, no. 31
Paris, Galerie Tarica, Paul Klee, 1963
New York, Saidenberg Gallery, Paul Klee. A Retrospective Exhibition, 1969, no. 28, illustrated in the catalogue
Des Moines, Des Moines Art Center, Paul Klee. Paintings and Watercolours from the Bauhaus Years 1921-1931, 1973, no. 37, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
New York, Saidenberg Gallery, Honoring the Centenary of the Birth of Paul Klee. An Exhibition of Oils, Watercolours, Mixed Media and Drawings by Paul Klee. Dating from 1913 to 1940, 1979, no. 33
Dusseldorf & Stuttgart, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Paul Klee. Im Zeichen der Teilung, 1995, no. 153, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Will Grohmann, Paul Klee, London, 1967, illustrated in colour p. 113
Jürg Spiller, Paul Klee. Unendliche Naturgeschichte, Basel & Stuttgart, 1970, illustrated n.p.
Sadao Wada, Paul Klee and his Travels, Tokyo, 1979, pl. 381, illustrated n.p.
Paul Klee Foundation (ed.), Paul Klee, Catalogue raisonné, Bern, 2001, vol. V, no. 4449, illustrated p. 140

Executed on cream wove paper, laid down on laid paper, laid down on card. There is a small speck of paper skinning towards the right of the lower edge on the board. There is some minor surface dirt, mainly to the upper extreme paper edge. Otherwise, this work is in very good condition.
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Following the architect Walter Gropius' invitation to teach at the Bauhaus, Klee moved to Weimar in 1921, and to Dessau five years later: the time spent working and teaching there was to be the most innovative and productive of his career. Inspired by the Bauhaus belief in constructivist art, Klee's work became increasingly abstract and geometricised, and Côte de Provence 7 is a magnificent example of this new direction in his art, coupled with the poetic quality that imbues all of his work. Here, the artist has combined the technique of watercolour with sharply penned lines, creating the effect of a script-like pattern that evokes a mystical, unknown pictorial language. By depicting symbols and geometric patterns against a flat, nearly monochromatic background, Klee created a combination of pictorial and linguistic signs, characteristic of Egyptian hieroglyphs and other ancient scripts.

Vascillating between abstraction and figuration, Klee's delicately inscribed lines create a rhythmic, poetic pattern combining abstract lines with shapes evocative of nature. The artist's son Felix Klee described his father's favorite outing to Wörlitz near Dessau, which inspired his depictions of plants and gardens: it was 'surrounded by an enchanting park full of lakes and watercourses that made the visitor forget the monotony of the surrounding Elbe flatlands. We strolled past Aeolian harps and exotic giant trees, across rickety footbridges, and took the ferries to the islands. Here Paul Klee was thoroughly in his element, and many of his pictures with plant or water subjects were the outcome of visits to this wonderful park' (Felix Klee, quoted in Roland Doschka, Paul Klee, Munich, 2001, p. 210).

We are grateful to Stefan Frey, Bern for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.