Inscription: Signed (lower right): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (bottom): 1914/213 Garten in der Tunesischen Europäerkolonie St. Germain; (lower left): S.Kl.
the artist (1914–d. 1940); his widow, Lily Klee, Bern (1940–45; gift in 1945 to Cooper); Douglas Cooper, London and Argilliers (1945–56; sold in November 1956 to Berggruen); [Berggruen et Cie, Paris, from 1956]; Mark Hendrickx, Brussels (by 1957–at least 1966); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (by 1967–84; his gift to MMA)
National Gallery, London. "Paul Klee 1879–1940," December 22, 1945–February 17, 1946, no. 20 (as "A Garden in the European Quarter of St. Germain [Tunis]," lent by Douglas Cooper, Esq., London).
Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne. "Exposition Paul Klee," February 4–March 1, 1948, no. 47 (as "Coté 213").
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. "Paul Klee," March 29–May 12, 1957, no. 8a (as "Jardin à Saint-Germain près de Tunis," lent by M. Hendrickx, Brussels).
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Paul Klee 1879–1940: A Retrospective Exhibition," February 17–April 30, 1967, no. 19 (as "Garden in the Tunisian European Colony St. Germain," lent by Heinz Berggruen, Paris).
Kunsthalle Basel. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. Gesamtausstellung," June 3–August 13, 1967, no. 24 (as "Garten in St. Germain bei Tunis," lent by Heinz Berggruen, Paris).
Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne. "Paul Klee," November 25, 1969–February 16, 1970, no. 19 (as "Jardin à St-Germain—Colonie européenne près de Tunis," lent by Heinz Berggruen, Paris).
Turin. Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna. "Il Cavaliere Azzurro. Der Blaue Reiter," March 18–May 9, 1971, unnumbered cat. (p. 227; as "Giardino nella colonia europea di Tunisi," lent by Heinz Berggruen, Paris).
Saint-Paul. Fondation Maeght. "Paul Klee," July 9–September 30, 1977, no. 8 (as "Jardin en Tunisie dans le quartier européen de Saint-Germain," lent by a private collection, Paris).
Munich. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus. "Paul Klee: Das Frühwerk 1883–1922," December 12, 1979–March 2, 1980, no. 267 (lent by a private collection, Switzerland).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Paul Klee," February 12–May 5, 1987, unnumbered cat. (p. 137; as "Garden in St. Germain, European Quarter of Tunis").
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Paul Klee," June 24–August 16, 1987, unnumbered cat.
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Paul Klee: Leben und Werk," September 25, 1987–January 3, 1988, no. 52.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 6–July 31, 1988, unnumbered cat. (p. 61).
Kunsthalle Tübingen. "Paul Klee: Die Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York und im Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," January 22–April 16, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 57).
London. Tate Gallery. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," May 17–August 13, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 57).
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Paul Klee: Selección de sesenta obras. The Berggruen Klee Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 1989–January 1990, no. 2.
Nagoya. Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Paul Klee Retrospective," April 2–May 23, 1993, no. 61.
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Paul Klee Retrospective," June 1–July 25, 1993, no. 61.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Paul Klee Retrospective," July 31–September 21, 1993, no. 61.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee and Friends," June 8–November 26, 1995, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 20, 1997–February 8, 1998, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Cities," June 22–September 5, 1999, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes by Klee and Kiefer," January 19–September 30, 2001, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee's Best," May 24–September 22, 2002, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee the Voyager," February 4–May 4, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 1, 2005–March 5, 2006, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee: Path to Abstraction," April 9–August 4, 2013, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Humor and Fantasy: The Berggruen Paul Klee Collection," September 1, 2016–January 2, 2017, no catalogue.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 16, 2018–March 17, 2019, no catalogue.
Will Grohmann. Paul Klee. New York, [1954], p. 411, no. 93, ill. p. 125 (color), as "Garden in St. Germain, near Tunis," in the collection of Douglas Cooper, Argilliers (Gard).
Jean-Christophe Ammann. "Die Tunesian-Aquarelle Paul Klees von 1914." Kunst-Nachrichten 2 (December 1965), unpaginated, fig. 4 (color), as in the collection of Douglas Cooper, Argilliers.
Robert E. Fisher. Klee. Ed. Theodore Reff. New York, 1966, p. 14, colorpl. 4, calls it "Saint Germain" and locates it in a private collection, Brussels.
Uta Laxner. "Stilanalytische Untersuchungen zu den Aquarellen de Tunisreise 1914: Macke, Klee, Moilliet." PhD diss., Universität Bonn, 1967, pp. 137–38, 177, no. 39.
David Burnett. "Paul Klee: The Romantic Landscape." Art Journal 36 (Summer 1977), p. 322, fig. 1, calls it "Garden in the European Colony of Tunis, St. Germain" in the text and "Garden in St. Germain, near Tunis" in the caption; notes that this picture was made from memory after Klee's trip to Tunisia.
Jim M. Jordan inPaul Klee. Das Frühwerk 1883–1922. Ed. Armin Zweite. Exh. cat., Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus. Munich, 1979, pp. 233, 245 n. 14.
Regula Suter-Raeber inPaul Klee. Das Frühwerk 1883–1922. Ed. Armin Zweite. Exh. cat., Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus. Munich, 1979, pp. 133–34, 139–40, relates Jurgen Glaesemer's conclusion that in five watercolors, including this one, the white vertical stripe visible in the center of the composition indicates where Klee fastened the paper with a rubber band to a board to prevent it from blowing away while he painted out of doors [see Ref. Rewald 1988].
Jean Duvignaud. Klee en Tunisie. Lausanne, 1980, ill. p. 65 (color), as "Jardins de la colonie Européenne de Saint-Germain".
Beeke Sell Tower. Klee and Kandinsky in Munich and at the Bauhaus. PhD diss.Ann Arbor, 1981, p. 94, calls it "Garden in St. Germain in Tunis".
Margareta Benz-Zauner. Werkanalytische Untersuchungen zu den Tunesien-Aquarellen Paul Klees. Frankfurt, 1984, pp. 4, 8, 25, 39–43, 75, 77–78, 80, 83–85, 88, calls it "Garten in St. Germain bei Tunis".
Jim M. Jordan. Paul Klee and Cubism. Princeton, 1984, p. 125, pl. 46, calls it "Garden in the Tunisian European Colony St. Germain" in a private collection, Switzerland; surmises that this picture and "In the Houses of St. Germain" (1914; Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern; Helfenstein and Rümelin 2000, no. 1210) were "based on segments of the same scene"; discusses it in relationship to Klee's early color grid patterns.
Dorothy M. Kosinski. Douglas Cooper and the Masters of Cubism. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Basel, 1987, p. 48 n. 41, calls it "Garden in the European Quarter of St. Germain, Tunis".
Sabine Rewald. Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, pp. 60–63, 271, 317, ill. (color, overall and detail, and bw), states that this is one of nine watercolors executed in St. Germain; notes that after conservation examination, it has been determined that the vertical white line is not the result of a rubber band holding the paper in place out of doors [Ref. Suter-Raeber 1979], but rather Klee folded the paper in half and glued it to a secondary support; after removing it from the second sheet, a line of adhesive and paper fibers remained.
Sigrid Albert. "Das Bild und sein Schatten. Eine Untersuchung der Beziehung von Bild und Titel bei Paul Klee im besonderen Hinblick auf die Rezeption." Cahiers d'études germaniques no. 19 (1990), p. 57, calls it "Garten in der Europäerkolonie Saint-Germain.
Claude Frontisi. Klee. Anatomie d'Aphrodite. Le polyptyque démembré. Paris, 1990, p. 25, calls it "Saint-Germain près de Tunis".
Ernst-Gerhard Güse inPaul Klee. Wachstum regt sich. Klees Zwiesprache mit der Natur. Ed. Ernst-Gerhard Güse. Exh. cat., Saarland Museum Saarbrücken. Munich, 1990, pp. 21, 168, ill. p. 11 (color).
Richard Hoppe-Sailer. Paul Klee. Ad Parnassum. Frankfurt, 1993, pp. 49–50, 127, pl. 9.
Richard Hoppe-Sailer and Norbert Rath. "Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Natur: Unmittelbarkeitshunger, Exotik, 'Entartete Kunst'—Das Beispiel Paul Klee." Das Kunstwerk und die Wissenschaften. Über die unterschiedliche Art, sich ein Bild zu machen. Ed. Michael Bockemühl et al. Ostfildern, 1994, pp. 28–29, 31, fig. 40.
Wolfgang Kersten and Osamu Okuda. Paul Klee. Im Zeichen der Teilung. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf, 1995, pp. 46–48, repeat the assertion that the white line in the middle of the composition is the result of a rubber band placed over the paper [see Refs. Suter-Raeber 1979, Rewald 1988].
Stefan Frey inPaul Klee: Reisen in den Süden. "Reisefieber praecisiert". Ed. Uta Gerlach-Laxner and Ellen Schwinzer. Exh. cat., Gustav-Lübcke Museum, Hamm. Ostfildern, 1997, p. 246.
Osamu Okuda. "Paul Klee: Buchhaltung, Werkbezeichnung und Werkprozess." Radical Art History: Internationale Anthologie. Subject: O. K. Werckmeister. Ed. Wolfgang Kersten. Zurich, 1997, p. 378 n. 13, p. 388.
Jenny Anger. "Modernism and the Gendering of Paul Klee." PhD diss., Brown University, 1997, vol. 1, pp. 31–32; vol. 2, fig. 15 (color), calls it "Garden in the Tunisian European Colony St. Germain" or "Garden in St. Germain by Tunis".
O[tto]. K[arl]. Werckmeister inPaul Klee: Reisen in den Süden. "Reisefieber praecisiert". Ed. Uta Gerlach-Laxner and Ellen Schwinzer. Exh. cat., Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm. Ostfildern, 1997, pp. 32, 38, 41, fig. 6.
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 3, 1919–1922. New York, 1999, p. 222, under nos. 2479, 2480.
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 2, 1913–1918. New York, 2000, p. 210, no. 1316, ill., as "Garten in der tunesischen Europäer Kolonie St. Germain (Garden in St. Germain, the European Quarter of Tunis)".
Michael Baumgartner inThe Journey to Tunisia, 1914: Paul Klee, August Macke, Louis Moilliet. Ed. Zentrum Paul Klee. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern. Ostfildern, 2014, pp. 114–15, 118, 321, no. 46, ill. p. 148 (color), calls it "Garden in St. Germain, the European Quarter of Tunis"; notes that Klee did not enter this work into his oeuvre catalogue until 1920 or 1921 because he regarded it as a preliminary study; repeats assertion that the white line in the middle of the composition is the result of a rubber band placed over the paper [see Refs. Suter-Raeber 1979, Rewald 1988].
Stefan Frey in Wolfgang Kersten Osamu Okuda and Marie Kakinuma. Paul Klee—Sonderklasse, unverkäuflich. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern. Cologne, 2015, p. 516, no. 13.
Osamu Okuda in Wolfgang Kersten Osamu Okuda and Marie Kakinuma. Paul Klee—Sonderklasse, unverkäuflich. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee. Cologne, 2015, pp. 176–77, no. 13, ill. (color).
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1921
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
