Old Man Reckoning (Rechnender Greis)

1929 · Print

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Old Man Reckoning (Rechnender Greis)” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 12 days ago
In this state since: Aug 19, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

Details

Accession number: 1950.17.201

What it shows

Man Bust

In the catalog

Prints Etching Modernism 20th century Swiss

Sources

National Gallery of Art
Image: National Gallery of Art — © the artist or rights holder

In the life of Paul Klee

The whole life

1921–1931
The preliminary course on the “theory of form”
Klee developed a preliminary course in the “theory of form” that began with the “point as the beginning of all beginnings”, moving through space, and the “cosmic egg” from which line, spiral, square, circle and cube are born. Students listened to lectures illustrated with Klee’s own abstract watercolours and then painted their own, trying to express movement, balance, flight and tension.
1928–1929
A journey to Egypt
Egypt impressed Klee less than Tunisia, yet in the desert he felt an almost mystical bond with the land: he was drawn to the proportions of the ancient funerary monuments and to the esoteric numerology by which they were built. His later “Ad Parnassum” was influenced by the trip.
1929
The first major monograph on Klee
In 1929 the first major monograph on Klee’s work was published; it was written by Will Grohmann, a confidant of the artist.
1931
Leaving the Bauhaus for the Düsseldorf Academy
Teaching at the Bauhaus shifted ever more from painting towards an architectural aesthetic, which no longer suited Klee: in 1931 he gave up his post there and became a professor at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art.

All works