Paul KleeGerman, 1879–1940In the Magic Mirror
About the painting
In the Magic Mirror is an abstract oil painting produced in 1934 by the Swiss-based German artist Paul Klee. It is now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
In the museum's words
In the Magic Mirror reflects the disillusionment that colored much of Paul Klee's work following the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933 and the artist's subsequent move to his native Switzerland.
Illustrating what Klee called his method of "taking a line for a walk," a meandering red line twists and turns down the center of the canvas, delineating the features of a face. The tight curves on the brow suggest the figure is concentrating, while the tension between the nose and mouth, which pull in opposite directions, conveys anxiety. In contrast to the cheerful pink cheeks, the figure's tear-shaped eyes communicate distress. The thinly painted, ghostly outline of the head and shoulders is in contrast to the crisp rendering of the face. Klee paints the heart, the true creative center, black, thereby suggesting the pall that settled over this figure, and by extension, the artist at this time.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1991.321
Meanwhile, in the life of Paul Klee
The whole life1933
Nazi harassment, a house search and dismissal
When the Nazis came to power a campaign of persecution was launched against Klee: the press called him a “typical Galician Jew”, his flat in Dessau was searched, and in Düsseldorf he was barred from work until he produced documents proving Aryan descent. He was forced to give up his professorship.
late 1933
Emigration to Switzerland
At the end of 1933, at his wife’s insistence, Klee left Germany and returned to Bern. He applied for Swiss citizenship, but a positive answer came only after his death.
1933–1934
Shows in London and Paris, and a meeting with Picasso
In 1933–34 Klee had shows in London and Paris and finally met Pablo Picasso, whom he greatly admired.
1935
A large exhibition in Bern: 273 works
A large Klee exhibition in Bern showed 273 works.
1935
The first signs of scleroderma
In 1935, two years after moving to Switzerland, signs of scleroderma were found in Klee — an autoimmune disease that hardens connective tissue; it later proved fatal and made swallowing very difficult. The pain he endured seems to be reflected in his late works.
1936–1939
