Inscription: Signed (upper right): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower left): 1939 NN7; (lower right): blau-Vogel-Kürbis
the artist, Bern (1939–d. 1940); his widow, Lily Klee, Bern (1940–46; sold in 1946 to Cooper); Douglas Cooper, London, Argilliers, and Monte Carlo (1946–58; exchanged for a Braque in April 1958 with Berggruen); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1958–84; his gift to MMA)
Kunsthalle Bern. "Gedächtnisausstellung Paul Klee," November 9–December 8, 1940, no. 176 (as for sale, for SFr 700).
National Gallery, London. "Paul Klee 1879–1940," December 22, 1945–February 17, 1946, no. 126 (as "Bird and Gourd in Blue," lent by Frau Professor Klee, Bern).
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. "Paul Klee 1879–1940," May 11–June 1, 1946, no. 48 (as "Bird and Gourd in Blue," lent by Frau Professor Klee).
Sheffield. Graves Art Gallery. "Paul Klee 1879–1940," June 8–29, 1946, no. 48.
Stoke-on-Trent. Hanley Public Museum and Art Gallery. "Paul Klee 1879–1940," July 6–27, 1946, no. 48.
Aberdeen Art Gallery and Industrial Museum. "Paul Klee 1879–1940," August 3–24, 1946, no. 48.
Manchester City Art Gallery. "Paul Klee 1879–1940," September 28–October 19, 1946, no. 48.
Newcastle upon Tyne. Hatton Gallery, King's College in the University of Durham. "Paintings of the Twentieth Century from the Collection of Mr. Douglas Cooper," March–May 1949, no catalogue (checklist no. 4; as "Bird and Gourd in Blue").
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. 258).
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. 269).
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. 269).
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. 60.
Stuttgart. Württembergischer Kunstverein. "Paul Klee. Spätwerk. Arbeiten auf Papier 1937–1939," October 25, 1990–January 13, 1991, no. 274.
Kunsthalle Emden. "Paul Klee. Spätwerk. Arbeiten auf Papier 1937–1939," February 10–April 21, 1991, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Creatures," December 12, 2003–March 14, 2004, no catalogue.
Rome. Fondazione Memmo. "Paul Klee: La collezione Berggruen," October 11, 2006–January 7, 2007, no. 48.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Late Klee," October 18, 2012–March 31, 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.
"Paul Klee." Cahiers d'art 20–21 (1945–46), ill. p. 74, as "Oiseau et gourde en bleu," in the collection of Douglas Cooper, London.
Douglas Cooper. Paul Klee. Harmondsworth, 1949, colorpl. 27, as "Bird and Gourd in Blue" in a private collection.
Felix Klee. Paul Klee: 12 aquarelles. Paris, 1964, unpaginated, colorpl. 12.
Will Grohmann. Paul Klee. New York, [1967], pp. 152–53, ill. (color), comments on its similarity to a ceramic plate.
Denys Chevalier. Klee. New York, 1971, ill. p. [82] (color), calls it "Blue-Bird-Squash".
Dorothy M. Kosinski. Douglas Cooper and the Masters of Cubism. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Basel, 1987, p. 49 n. 41, calls it "Bird and Gourd in Blue".
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. 258–59, 288, 319, ill. (color and bw), notes that Picasso's 1937 visit to him in Bern made a great impression upon Klee, but that this work "anticipated... a style that Picasso himself would only employ seven years later, when from 1946 onward he created ceramics".
Jane Norrie. "Paul Klee." Arts Review 41 (June 2, 1989), p. 439.
Will Grohmann. Der Maler Paul Klee. 4th ed. (1st ed., 1966). Cologne, 2003, pp. 132–33, no. 42, ill. (color) [German ed. of Ref. Grohmann 1967].
Josef Helfenstein, Christian Rümelin, and Eva Wiederkehr Sladeczek, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 8, 1939. New York, 2004, pp. 337, 362, no. 8453, ill. (bw and color), as "Blau-Vogel-Kürbis (Blue Bird Gourd)".
Olivier Berggruen inPaul Klee: Colección Berggruen. Exh. cat., Fundación Marcelino Botín. Santander, 2006, pp. 28, 136, 155–56, ill. pp. 24, 137 (color) [Italian ed., Milan, 2006, pp. 22, 130, 145, ill. pp. 18 (color detail), 131 (color)].
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1921
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