ticketsMember | Make a donation

Clarification

Paul Klee German, born Switzerland
1932
Not on view
In October 1931, Klee began teaching at the Düsseldorf Academy. He felt much at ease in that city, his well-being reflected in his adaptation of a pointillistic, loose mosaic style. But Klee's merry "Pointillism" was different from the method of Georges Seurat and his followers, who broke down the imagery of their paintings into tiny dots of pure color. Klee's works, rather, seem "built up" with row upon row of blocklike units of color chosen without regard to optical laws. In Clarification, due to the very small size of the dots of color, the foreground turns into a transparent screen through which the background is visible. Klee divided the ground into large areas of buff and grays, over which he drew the brown geometric design and the green crescent. Then he covered the entire surface with thousands of tiny color dots in even horizontal rows.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Clarification
  • Artist: Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
  • Date: 1932
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 27 3/4 × 37 7/8 in. (70.5 × 96.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1984
  • Object Number: 1984.315.54
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Ass (Esel), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph
Ass (Esel)
Paul Klee
1925
Bird Comedy (Vogelkomödie), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph
Bird Comedy (Vogelkomödie)
Paul Klee
Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl
1918
The Bauhaus Portfolio: New European Graphics III
Paul Klee
1921
The Saint of the Inner Light (Die Helige vom inner Licht), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph with brown background
The Saint of the Inner Light (Die Helige vom inner Licht)
Paul Klee
1921
Hoffmannesque Scene (Hofmanneske Szene), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph in gold, maroon, brown and black
Hoffmannesque Scene (Hofmanneske Szene)
Paul Klee
1921

Related Content

Perspectives

Articles, audio, and video from The Met's online magazine.

Timeline of Art History

Entries from The Met's art encyclopedia.

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

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.