Works by Klee Make a Guest Appearance in Emden

More than 75 works by Paul Klee (1879–1940) from the permanent collection of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen will be shown at the Kunsthalle Emden. The paintings, watercolors, drawings – which convey an overview of the most important phases of Klee’s development – will be on view from March 21 to July 19, 2015. The exhibition in Emden, which bears the title PAUL KLEE! Masterworks from the Kunstsammlung NRW, provides a strong impression of the Swiss artist’s inexhaustible creativity.

Fifty years ago, the acquisition of an extensive collection of works by Klee by the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia provided the initial impetus for the establishment of a regional art gallery in Düsseldorf, which today owns more than 100 works by this major twentieth century artist.

The selection covers a broad spectrum: some works document his artistic beginnings, others reflect his experiences during the legendary journey to Tunis in 1914. There are also painstakingly composed paintings that exemplify his initial forays into oil painting in 1919.

Representing the period of his teaching activities at the Bauhaus in Weimar in Dessau are works that illustrate Klee stylistic and motivic multiplicity, but also document his delight in experimentation. Offering insights into the artist late phase, finally, are oil paintings and works on paper that display an encoded and symbolic pictorial language.

From 1931 to 1933, Klee was a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. After the National Socialists seized power, he was quickly deprived of his position, and immigrated back to Switzerland the same year. In a number of works, Paul Klee reflects with sensitivity and a keen analytical view of the events of his time. His works bring to life an artistic cosmos that unifies fairytale-like, musical, theatrical, political, and religious themes with lightheartedness, wit, humor, and irony.

If you find yourself en route northward during the Easter holidays or early summer vacation, you may want to make a stop at Emden. The exhibition at the Kunsthalle will be on view until July 19, 2015. Afterwards, the Klee works will make a return trip to Düsseldorf.

On the webpage of the Kunsthalle Emden, you can find among others things a review of the exhibition opening and a photo gallery:

kunsthalle-emden.de/grosser-andrang-bei-der-klee-ausstellungseroeffnung/