Paul Klee

Miller Collection (acquired by 1913)
Jeanny & Walter Bick, Richmond Hill (acquired by 1971)
Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Bremen
Galerie Neher, Essen
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1985

Cologne, Gereonsklub, Paul Klee, 1912, no. 15
Pasadena, Pasadena Art Museum; San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art & Columbus, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (and travelling), Paul Klee 1879-1940: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1967-68, no. 11, illustrated in the catalogue
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada & Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, A Tribute to Paul Klee: 1879-1940; Hommage à Paul Klee, 1879-1940, 1979, no. 8, illustrated in the catalogue
Fort Dodge, Blanden Memorial Art Gallery & Oxford, Ohio, Miami University Art Museum, A Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Works of Art  on Paper by Paul Klee and Lyonel Feininger, 1980-81, no. 5, illustrated in the catalogue
Bremen, Graphisches Kabinett Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner KG, Paul Klee. Oskar Schlemmer. Aquarelle, Pastelle, Zeichnungen, 1984-85, no. 3, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Jenny Anger, Modernism and the Gendering of Paul Klee (dissertation), Brown University, 1997
Paul Klee Foundation (ed.), Paul Klee, Catalogue Raisonné, Bern, 2001, vol. I, no. 770, illustrated in colour p. 433

The paper has been laid down by the artist on a cardboard. The cardboard is taped to the window mount at the upper two corners. There are paper remnants along all four edges from previous mounting. The paper is slightly unevenly cut by the artist, most prominently to the upper right corner. Otherwise, this work is in overall very good condition.
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In 1906, Klee and his wife Lily had moved to Munich, one of the liveliest artistic centres of Europe. While his neighbour Wassily Kandinsky – alongside other contemporary artists such as Emil Nolde and Franz Marc – experimented with the expressionistic qualities of colour, Klee's art consisted mainly of black and white drawings and stands alone from the work of his contemporaries.

Even though colour would later play a major part in Klee's work, chromatic considerations were not a primary focus in his early work. Only 32 out of 173 compositions from 1912 involve colour, making the present watercolour exceptionally rare. Laternen is a beautiful example of the artist's first experiments with the application of colour, playing with the juxtaposition of basic primary colours.

As is characteristic of Klee's œuvre, the borders between figuration and abstraction are not clearly defined. Abstract at first glance, the composition gains structure and order through the repetition of a linear pattern. Each street lamp acts as a focal point, like individual suns or planets hovering on their metal posts. The cold and dark night-time street is transformed into a vibrant almost mystical fairytale landscape, offering refuge for the disillusioned city dweller.