Introducing the Miracle

from 3 April 1914

Tunisia with Macke and Moilliet: Klee the painter

On 3 April 1914 Klee set out from Bern with August Macke and Louis Moilliet, via Lyon and Marseille to Tunisia — Saint-Germain, Sidi Bou Said, Carthage, Hammamet, Kairouan — and he alone of the three kept a diary. Struck by the light, Klee wrote that colour had taken possession of him for ever and that he was a painter; back home he painted his first purely abstract work, “In the Style of Kairouan”, built of coloured rectangles and a few circles.

autumn 1914

The war: hopes, and the death of August Macke

Klee greeted the outbreak of war, like Franz Marc, with a hope for the country’s revival, and in the first months made works on war themes — “Death on the Battlefield” and “Death for the Idea”. The death of his friend August Macke in the autumn of 1914 changed his mind: in his diary he wrote that the more terrible the world, the more abstract art becomes, and by the end of 1915 he had abandoned war subjects altogether.

1915

Meeting Rainer Maria Rilke

Klee met the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who was allowed to keep about forty of Klee’s works in his room for several months.

March 1916

First exhibition of abstract watercolours at Walden’s

Herwarth Walden’s gallery held the first exhibition of Klee’s abstract watercolours, a success with the public. He gave the works new titles, marking his break with war themes, and Walden asked him for more.

5 March 1916

Called up, and the news of Franz Marc’s death

On 5 March 1916 Klee, who had been expecting mobilisation since 1914, was called up; the same day he learned that Franz Marc had been killed at the Battle of Verdun. From March to August he went through military training at Landshut.

February 1917

Second show at Walden’s: the first commercial success

Klee showed the watercolours of the past year; many works were sold, and critics called him the most important German artist since Marc’s death. The success was made possible by a changed market: collectors had appeared who were ready to buy modern art.