Paul Klee: Abstraction of Place

How Paul Klee’s colourful transition from observation to abstraction distilled the sense of place…

One could tell, from his sense of visual rhythm, that Paul Klee trained as a musician before enrolling at Munich’s Academy of Fine Art. This fusion of musical sensibilities and visual expression encouraged him to explore colour and line as compositional elements in much the same way as a musician uses notes, tempo, tone, and volume in compositions. This would later provide conceptual common ground with his fellow Blue Riders…

In 1901, shortly after his graduation from the Academy and whilst recovering from traumatic experiences in his personal life, he visited Italy. There, he sought out the work of the Renaissance masters and was equally impressed by the colours of the Amalfi coast as by the monumental architecture and classical ruins he saw in Florence, Naples, and Rome. He was left with a strong impression of structure and colour informing his approach to landscape.

For the next decade or so he painted, played violin professionally, and worked as an illustrator. He became friends with Alfred Kubin, August Macke, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, and Wassily Kandinsky, who began exhibiting together as Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) — a loose affiliation of artists who shared a belief in the transformative and transcendent powers of colour. However, his travels with August Macke and Louis Moilliet to North Africa, in 1914, is cited as the…