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| Photo of Paul Klee by Alexander Eliasberg in 1911. Courtesy Wikipedia. |
The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa is presenting a major retrospective of Swiss-German artist Paul Klee (1879–1940).
The exhibition consists of 75 pieces from the prestigious Berggruen Klee Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest collection of works by Paul Klee in North America.
The drawings and watercolours on display cover the length of his career and show off his considerable talents, imagination and knowledge of colour.
Klee was born in Switzerland to a musical family. His father was a music teacher and his mother was a singer. Klee studied violin in Bern, before moving to Munich to study art.
Klee served in the First World War, although not at the front. He did lose friends in combat and this is reflected in some of his works from this period, which show birds spiralling downwards shooting arrows.
After the war, Klee took up a teaching position at the Bauhaus art school, where he would stay for 10 years. Many of the works in this exhibition are from this period in Klee’s life.
The Nazis did not appreciate Klee’s art and considered his art degenerate. Klee moved back to Switzerland, where he died in 1940.
The last room of this exhibition allows visitors to create their own Paul Klee inspired art by manipulating shapes on a wall or on the floor. Visitors can also enjoy a selection of music by some of Klee’s favourite composers, at a special listening station.
The exhibition continues until March 17, 2019.