This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Phantom Perspective
Artist:Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
Date:1920
Medium:Watercolor and transferred printing ink on paper mounted on cardboard
Dimensions:12 1/8 × 16 3/4 in. (30.8 × 42.5 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1984
Object Number:1984.315.22
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower left): 1920/174 Perspectiv-Spuk; (lower right): q
the artist, Munich (1920–21; sold in December 1921 to Goltz); [Galerie Neue Kunst Hans Goltz, Munich, from 1921]; private collection, Chicago (until ca.1937/40; sold between 1937 and 1940, for $100, to Berggruen); Heinz Berggruen, San Francisco, Paris, and Berlin (by 1940–84; his gift to MMA)
Berlin. Landesausstellungsgebäude am Lehrter Bahnhof. "Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung," May 14–end September 1921, no. 924 (as for sale).
Frankfurter Kunstverein. "Aus dem Traumbuch der Maler: Phantasie und Vision. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle," August 10–September 29, 1968, no. 39 (as "Perspectiv-Spuk," lent by a private collection).
Paris. Berggruen et Cie. "Paul Klee. Les années 20," May–July 1971, no. 5 (as "Perspectiv-Spuk [Fantasmagorie-Perspective]").
Saint-Paul. Fondation Maeght. "Paul Klee," July 9–September 30, 1977, no. 31 (as "Perspective hantée," lent by a private collection, Paris).
London. Hayward Gallery. "Dada and Surrealism Reviewed," January 11–March 27, 1978, no. 8.18 (as "Perspective hantée. Haunted perspective," lent by a private collection).
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. 44).
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. 122).
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. 121).
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. 121).
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. 20.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Small Interiors," February 17–July 21, 1996, 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.
Paul Klee. Exh. cat., Buchholz Gallery, New York. New York, 1940, unpaginated list of Klee works in American collections, listed as "Perspektiver Spuk," 1921, in the collection of Heinz Berggruen, San Francisco.
Pierre Courthion. Klee. Paris, 1953, unpaginated, colorpl. 19, as "Haunting Perspectives," in the collection of Berggruen, Paris.
Felix Klee. Paul Klee: 12 aquarelles. Paris, 1964, unpaginated, colorpl. 4, as "Fantasmagorie perspective (Perspectiv-Spuk)".
Jean-Louis Ferrier. Paul Klee: Les années 20. Paris, 1971, ill. pp. 38–39 and n. p. (color and bw).
James Smith Pierce. Paul Klee and Primitive Art. PhD diss., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. New York, 1976, p. 109, calls it "Perspective Spook".
Jürgen Glaesemer. Paul Klee. Die farbigen Werke im Kunstmuseum Bern: Gemälde, farbige Blätter, Hinterglasbilder und Plastiken. Bern, 1976, p. 153 n. 33.
Daniel Abadie. Paul Klee. [Paris], 1977, p. 169, ill. p. 61, calls it "Perspective hantée" and locates it in a private collection, Paris.
Kay Vernon in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 41, ill. p. 44 (color).
Margaret Plant. "Paul Klee's Perspectives." Australian Journal of Art 5 (1986), pp. 105, 107, 109–10, fig. 2, erroneously dates it 1902 in the caption.
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, pp. 122–23, colorpl. 100.
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. 120, 122–23, 277, 317, ill. (color and bw).
Heinz Berggruen in Sabine Rewald. Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, p. 9, recounts that this work was the first Klee to enter his collection, purchased in 1937 for $100.
Wolfgang Kersten and Osamu Okuda. Paul Klee. Im Zeichen der Teilung. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf, 1995, p. 164.
Heinz Berggruen. Hauptweg und Nebenwege: Erinnerungen eines Kunstsammlers. Berlin, 1996, pp. 84–85, erroneously dates it 1921; states that in 1940, on a layover in Chicago en route to New York, he acquired this work from a German immigrant for $100 [see Ref. Berggruen 1988]; notes that this first Klee in his collection reminded him of Kafka and became "mein Talisman".
Peter-Klaus Schuster inKlee aus New York: Hauptwerke der Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Sammlung Berggruen. Berlin, 1998, pp. 14–15, fig. 6.
Sabine Rewald inKlee aus New York: Hauptwerke der Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Berlin, 1998, p. 38, fig. 36.
Heinz Berggruen inKlee aus New York: Hauptwerke der Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Berlin, 1998, p. 7.
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. 235, 240, no. 2519, ill., as "Perspectiv-Spuk (Perspective Spook)".
Vivian Endicott Barnett. The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum. [Pasadena], 2002, p. 288.
Uta Gerlach-Laxner inPaul Klee im Rheinland: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Gouachen. Ed. Uta Gerlach-Laxner and Frank Günter Zehnder. Exh. cat., Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. Cologne, 2003, pp. 55–56.
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.
