In this episode you will hear the first result of my tour to Switzerland back in May. One of my stops was at Zentrum Paul Klee in Berne to interview Fabienne Eggelhöfer, chief curator of the ZPK.

Paul Klee created so much art during his lifetime – in his last year of life alone 1.253 works. Exhibitions of his work are still a huge audience magnet. He is today one of the best-known artists of the Bauhaus. But his career had started much earlier than with his appointment as Bauhaus master; he had lived a full life before.

In the beginning, becoming a musician (like his parents and his wife Lily) was even in the cards. But Klee decided that all good music had already been written, and so he chose to become a painter, but music would always be a big part of his art and private life.

While studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich Klee felt that he would never be able to learn painting. Travelling to Tunisia in 1914 would become pivotal for Klee’s paintings – that’s at least what he wrote. In Tunis, he discovered the color, he said, and thus now finally IS a painter.

When Gropius asked Paul Klee to come teach at the Bauhaus in 1920 the school was still very young and struggling to become what it is known for today. Wassily Kandinsky, with whom Klee had earlier been part of the „Blaue Reiter“ art group, was also appointed and the two of them were the real magnets to attract young students to the Bauhaus.

Paul Klee, though, was unexperienced as a teacher and had to find his own ways – and never had enough time for his own art – a crucial point in deciding to leave the Bauhaus after 10 years. In the writings of many Bauhauslers Klee is often portrayed as a mentor, capable of painting with both hands at the same time. But also, as someone, who’s teaching the students only understood much later – after their time at the Bauhaus.

SHOW NOTES

BOOKS BY PAUL KLEE

PAUL KLEE'S ART WORK IN MUSEUMS

COVER PHOTO Lily Klee: Portrait of Paul Klee in Düsswldorf, April 1933

PAUL KLEE'S PLAYLIST (Podcast)