''Fish Magic'' is a 1925
Surrealist
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
painting by Swiss-German artist
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 ...
. The painting belonged to the collection of
Walter and Louise Arensberg
Walter Conrad Arensberg (April 4, 1878 – January 29, 1954) was an American art collector, critic and poet. His father was part owner and president of a crucible steel company. He majored in English and philosophy at Harvard University. With his w ...
before being donated in 1950 to the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
where it is currently held.
Analysis
''Fish Magic'' is seen as an intermingling of aquatic, celestial, and earthly entities. The painting is covered by a delicate surface of black paint, under which lies a dense layer of multicolored pigments. The colorful figures were then scratched and scrawled out by Klee on the dark background. A square of
muslin
Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It is commonly believed that it gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq.
Muslin was produced in different regions o ...
was glued to the painting in the center, giving the painting the sense of a collage. The painting's dark palette and the muslin's fragility create a mysterious and inky atmosphere.
Ker writes that "''Fish Magic'' is set squarely within the tradition of
German Romanticism
German Romanticism () was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German vari ...
, with its blend of fantasy and natural empiricism, of poetry and pragmatics." She points to the technique used to draw out the various fish, flora, human beings, and clock tower as "a sophisticated version of the games children play with wax crayons."
According to
Ann Temkin, ''Fish Magic'' is a masterpiece in which the intellectual and imaginative forces of Klee's artistic gifts are reconciled, producing a "sense of magic". Specifically, Temkin points to the thin diagonal line extending from the middle right of the canvas to the top of the clock tower, writing that the "long painted line from the side seems ready to pull the
quare of muslinoff to reveal something underneath."
See also
*
List of works by Paul Klee
References
External links
''Fish Magic'' on Google Arts & Culture*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish Magic
Paintings by Paul Klee
1925 paintings
Paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Fish in art
Surrealist paintings
Animal paintings
Oil paintings
Watercolor paintings