Inscription: Signed (upper left): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower left): 1923 160/ S.Kl.; inscribed (lower right): Seltsamer Garten
the artist (1923–d. 1940; on loan August 1924–February 1940 to the Pauline Grebe family, Jena); his widow, Lily Klee, Bern (1940–46); Paul Klee Society, later Paul Klee Foundation, Bern (1946–53); Hans and Erika Meyer-Benteli, Bern (1953–his d. 1956); Erika Meyer-Benteli, Bern (1956–66); [Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne, 1966–67; sold in 1967 to Bensinger]; Peter Bensinger, Chicago (from 1967); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1971–84; his gift to MMA)
Dresden. Galerie Neue Kunst Fides. "Paul Klee," May 1924, no catalogue.
Kunsthalle Bern. "Gedächtnisausstellung Paul Klee," November 9–December 8, 1940, no. 92.
Paris. Berggruen et Cie. "Paul Klee. Les années 20," May–July 1971, no. 26.
Cologne. Kunsthalle. "Paul Klee. Das Werk der Jahre 1919–1933. Gemälde, Handzeichnungen, Druckgraphik," April 11–June 4, 1979, no. 108 (lent by a private collection, Zurich).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Paul Klee," February 12–May 5, 1987, unnumbered cat. (p. 199).
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. 136.
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. 185).
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. 191).
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. 191).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee at the Bauhaus," April 18–August 17, 1997, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: Figures and Faces," August 23–November 16, 1997, 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 Paintings," September 14, 1999–March 12, 2000, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Figures," October 5, 2001–March 10, 2002, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Creatures," December 12, 2003–March 14, 2004, 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.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 1, 2005–March 5, 2006, no catalogue.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Das Universum Klee / The Klee Universe," October 31, 2008–February 8, 2009, unnumbered cat. (p. 209).
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 1923/24." Der Cicerone 16, no. 17 (1924), p. 795.
Jean-Louis Ferrier. Paul Klee: Les années 20. Paris, 1971, ill. p. 75 and n. p. (color and bw).
Christian Geelhaar. Paul Klee and the Bauhaus. Bath, 1973, pp. 59, 64–65, colorpl. 28.
Sara Lynn Henry. "Paul Klee, Nature, and Modern Science, the 1920s." PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1976, pp. 31–32, fig. 53.
Sara Lynn Henry. "Form-Creating Energies. Paul Klee and Physics." Arts Magazine 52 (September 1977), p. 120.
Richard Verdi. Klee and Nature. 2nd ed. (1st ed., 1984). New York, 1985, p. 151, fig. 138, states that its location is unknown.
Michèle Vishny. "Paul Klee's Self-Images." Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Art. Ed. Mary Mathews Gedo. Vol. 1, Hillsdale, N. J., 1985, p. 148.
William S. Lieberman. 20th Century Art: Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. 1, Painting: 1905–1945. New York, 1986, pp. 7, 36–37, 63, ill. (color, overall and detail).
Michèle Vishny. "A Year of Reflection: Paul Klee's 1919 Self-Portraits." Gazette des beaux-arts 128 (September 1986), p. 93.
Richard Verdi. "Exhibition Reviews: New York, Museum of Modern Art. Paul Klee." Burlington Magazine 129 (May 1987), p. 348.
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. 184–85, 282, 318, ill. (color and bw).
Ewald Rathke inPaul Klee. Exh. cat., Palazzo Forti, Verona. Milan, 1992, ill. p. 56.
Kathryn Elaine Kramer. "Mythopoetic Politics and the Transformation of the Classical Underworld Myth in the Late Work of Paul Klee." PhD diss., Columbia University, New York, 1993, pp. 28–29.
Peter-Klaus Schuster inKlee aus New York: Hauptwerke der Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Sammlung Berggruen. Berlin, 1998, p. 20, fig. 19.
Anna-Maria Ehrmann-Schindlbeck et al., ed. Paul Klee in Jena 1924: Die Ausstellung. Exh. cat., Stadtmuseum Göhre. Jena, 1999, pp. 76–77, ill. (color).
Thomas Kain, Mona Meister, and Franz-Joachim Verspohl. "Eine Integrale Biographie Paul Klees. Der künstlerisch-intellektuelle und musikalisch-gesellige 'Lebenslauf Werklauf' Paul Klees zwischen 1921 und 1926." Paul Klee in Jena 1924: Der Vortrag. Gera, 1999, pp. 214–15 (August 5, 1924 list by Klee of his loans to the Grebe family), 312–13 (March 4, 1936 letter from Leo Grebe to Klee) , 318 (February 17, 1940 letter from Klee to Leo Grebe), publish documentation of Klee's loan of eight works, including this one, to the Grebe family in Jena, in August 1924; Leo Grebe's 1936 letter indicates that this work is hanging in his mother's home; in 1940, Klee indicates that the works should be sent to their new owner, Rolf Bürgi.
Anna-Maria Ehrmann-Schindlbeck inPaul Klee in Jena 1924: Die Ausstellung. Ed. Anna-Maria Ehrmann-Schindlbeck et al. Exh. cat., Stadtmuseum Göhre. Jena, 1999, pp. 300, 303–4, ill. p. 307 (installation photo of the Grebe family music room, Jena, with this work or MMA 1984.315.39 in the background).
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 4, 1923–1926. New York, 2000, p. 115, no. 3254, ill.
Anke Daemgen inThe Klee Universe. Ed. Dieter Scholz and Christina Thomson. Exh. cat., Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Ostfildern, 2008, pp. 326, 357, ill. p. 209 (color).
Peter-Klaus Schuster inThe Klee Universe. Ed. Dieter Scholz and Christina Thomson. Exh. cat., Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Ostfildern, 2008, p. 21, fig. 13 (color).
Stefan Frey in Wolfgang Kersten Osamu Okuda and Marie Kakinuma. Paul Klee—Sonderklasse, unverkäuflich. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern. Cologne, 2015, p. 534, no. 117.
Marie Kakinuma in Wolfgang Kersten Osamu Okuda and Marie Kakinuma. Paul Klee—Sonderklasse, unverkäuflich. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern. Cologne, 2015, p. 295, no. 117, ill. (color).
Karl-Ludwig Hofmann and Christmut Präger. Rudolf Probst: Galerist 1890–1968. Wädenswil am Zürichsee, 2021, p. 88, ill. (color).
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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