Inscription: Signed (lower center): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower left): 1922/72; (lower right): Turm in orange u. grün
the artist (1922–d. 1940; on consignment 1924–28 to Galka Scheyer, New York and San Francisco); his widow, Lily Klee, Bern (1940–46); Paul Klee Society, later Paul Klee Foundation, Bern (1946–49; on consignment on January 20, 1949 to Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne; sold in 1949 by Rosengart, stock no. 5182, to Purcell); Charlotte Picher Purcell, Chicago (1949–at least 1973); [Joseph Faulkner—Main Street Galleries, Chicago, until 1981; sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 6, 1981, no. 542]; Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1981–84; his gift to MMA)
Berlin. Kronprinzenpalais, Nationalgalerie. "Paul Klee," February 1923, no catalogue.
Des Moines Art Center. "Paul Klee. Paintings and Watercolors from the Bauhaus Years 1921–1931," September 18–October 28, 1973, no. 9 (lent by Mrs. Picher Purcell, Chicago).
Chicago. Worthington Gallery, Inc. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Tribute in Celebration of the Artist's Centennial Year," October 12–December 1, 1979, no. 9.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Two: Twentieth-Century Art," June 4–September 2, 1985, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 43).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
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. 161).
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. 163).
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. 163).
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. 33.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: His Teaching Years," opened April 12, 1991, no catalogue.
Düsseldorf. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. "Paul Klee. Im Zeichen der Teilung," January 21–April 17, 1995, no. 137.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. "Paul Klee. Im Zeichen der Teilung," April 29–July 23, 1995, no. 137.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee at the Bauhaus," April 18–August 17, 1997, no catalogue.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Sammlung Berggruen. "Klee aus New York: Hauptwerke der Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 4–October 18, 1998, no. 22.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Cities," June 22–September 5, 1999, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Abstract," September 5–December 7, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee: His Years at the Bauhaus (1921–1931)," November 19, 2004–April 3, 2005, no catalogue.
Bauhaus-Museum Weimar. "Das Bauhaus kommt aus Weimar," April 1–July 5, 2009, no. 5.050.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee: Path to Abstraction," April 9–August 4, 2013, no catalogue.
Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. "Nach Ägypten! Die Reisen von Max Slevogt und Paul Klee," April 30–August 3, 2014, unnumbered cat. (p. 79).
Düsseldorf. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. "Nach Ägypten! Die Reisen von Max Slevogt und Paul Klee," September 6, 2014–January 4, 2015, unnumbered cat. (p. 79).
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.
Marianne L. Teuber. Paul Klee: Paintings and Watercolors from the Bauhaus Years, 1921–1931. Exh. cat., Des Moines Art Center. Des Moines, 1973, p. 11, no. 9, ill. unpaginated, calls it "Tower in Orange/Green" in text and "Tower in Orange and Green" in caption; discusses it as an example of a false color pair, or layering of secondary colors.
Eva-Maria Triska. "Die Quadratbilder Paul Klees—ein Beitrag zur Analyse formaler Ausdrucksmittel in seinem Werk und seiner Theorie. Mit einem Exkurs zur Ableitung von Klees Farbenlehre." PhD diss., Universität Wien, 1980, p. 186 n. 24.
Kay Vernon in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 41, ill. p. 43 (color), comments that works such as this one can be called "symbolic landscapes".
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. 160–61, 163, 280, 318, ill. (color and bw), notes that except for its vertical orientation, this work "is nearly identical in size, composition, and color to "'The Firmament Above the Temple'" (MMA 1987.455.11).
Jane Norrie. "Paul Klee." Arts Review 41 (June 2, 1989), p. 439.
Wolfgang Kersten and Osamu Okuda. Paul Klee. Im Zeichen der Teilung. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf, 1995, pp. 178, 378, 384, no. 137, ill. pp. 257 (color), 347, illustrate this work next to "The Firmament Above the Temple" (MMA 1987.455.11), proposing that the two watercolors originally formed one composition.
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, pp. 380, 409, no. 2896, ill.
Stephan Dahme inPaul Klee. Die Reise nach Ägypten 1928/29. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Dresden, 2014, pp. 78–79, ill. (color).
Stefan Frey in Wolfgang Kersten Osamu Okuda and Marie Kakinuma. Paul Klee—Sonderklasse, unverkäuflich. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern. Cologne, 2015, p. 528, no. 82.
Osamu Okuda in Wolfgang Kersten Osamu Okuda and Marie Kakinuma. Paul Klee—Sonderklasse, unverkäuflich. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee. Cologne, 2015, p. 256, no. 82, ill. (color), fig. 44 (color, reconstructed composition with MMA 1987.455.11).
Paul Klee was unrivaled among his contemporaries in his wide-ranging experimentation with materials and unconventional techniques. Join scholar Charles W. Haxthausen as he explores the variety of Klee’s practice and reflects on its art-historical implications.
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1921
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