''Architecture'' is an oil on cardboard painting by the Swiss German painter
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
, created in 1923. It is part of his ''Magic Squares'' series, where Klee studies the effects of repeating the same elements, in a largely
abstract
Abstract may refer to:
* ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott
* Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land
* Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document
* Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...
style. It is held at the
Neue Nationalgalerie
The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of the National Gallery of the Berlin State Museums. The museum building and its ...
, in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
.
History and description
Klee was teaching at
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2 ...
, in 1923, and it can be considered that he was influenced by the importance that architecture had in that art school for this painting. It has been speculated that this and other paintings of the same period were influenced by Austrian composer
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
recent development of a new, radical musical system of twelve tones, his
Twelve-tone technique
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law ...
. The same similar approach to music by a geometrical way can be seen in this work and others of the same time.
Art critic and historian
Will Grohmann
Will Grohmann (born 4 December 1887 in Bautzen; died 6 May 1968 in Berlin) was a German art critic and art historian specialized in German Expressionism and abstract art. He was known as the "godfather of modernism".
Life and work
From 1908 ...
states that he found a relation with Schönberg method in Klee's writings: "I found a slip of paper among Klee's papers on which was a plan for one of his pictures; numbers were written in the squares, a series of numbers ran first in one direction then in the other, crossing each other. When the numbers are added along the horizontals and verticals, the totals are equal, as in the well-known 'magic square.'"
Architecture, 1923 by Paul Klee, Paul Klee.net
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See also
*List of works by Paul Klee
This is an incomplete list of works by Paul Klee (18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940), a Swiss-born German artist and draftsman. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism.
L ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Architecture
1923 paintings
Paintings by Paul Klee
Paintings in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin