Directly affected by the Nazis’ ascent to power, Paul Klee was dismissed in 1933 from his teaching post at Dusseldorf Academy, where he had spent two years after leaving the Bauhaus. Exiled to Switzerland, Klee suffered physically and psychologically, and his artistic output diminished significantly. Between 1937 and 1940, however, Klee regained artistic momentum and produced several hundred paintings and over 1,500 drawings. In these later works, Klee continued to experiment with unusual media and techniques to produce multidimensional effects. Dancing Girl also reveals Klee’s limitless humor—his signature at the lower right was made by a monogrammed handkerchief, which he laid over the surface to begin his painting.

Paul Klee (18 December 1879 - 29 June 1940) was born in Munchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was also a student of orientalism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually mastered colour theory, and wrote extensively about it; his lectures Writings on Form and Design Theory (Schriften zur Form und Gestaltungslehre), published in English as the Paul Klee Notebooks, are considered so important for modern art that they are compared to the importance that Leonardo da Vinci's A Treatise on Painting had for Renaissance. He and his colleague, the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the German Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture. His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality.

Dancing Girl
oil on cloth
1940
Paul Klee
German, born Switzerland, 1879–1940

www.paulklee.net

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