Quote of the Day

"Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.” - Paul Klee

Did You Know?

Paul Klee was a highly influential artist whose unique works spanned Cubism, Surrealism, and other art movements. His works were often bright pieces of color-blocked compositions that seem whimsical and even childlike. Turns out, Klee wasn't always a joy to behold. When he was a young boy in school, he could be quite the bully. In his diary, he recalls a girl "who was not pretty and wore braces to correct her crooked legs”. He purposely pushed her down in a field, repeatedly. Definitely not a nice kid at the playground.

Paul Klee: “One Eye Sees…The Other Feels”

Paul Klee - Senecio - 1922. Oil on gauze - 40.5 x 38 cm. - Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland (click photo for larger image)Swiss painter Paul Klee (1879-1940) was one of the foremost artists of the twentieth century. Although he never belonged to any particular movement, he’s often associated with Expressionism. 

“Using both representational and abstract approaches, he produced an immense oeuvre of some 9,000 paintings, drawings, and watercolors in a great variety of styles. His works tend to be small in scale and are remarkable for their delicate nuances of line, color, and tonality. In Klee’s highly sophisticated art, irony and a sense of the absurd are joined to an intense evocation of the mystery and beauty of nature.”

The work featured here, Senecio, embodies Klee’s interest in African art, such as masks—and also embodies the artist’s sense of humor. The painting is actually a portrait of an artist performer, and “can be seen as a symbol of the shifting relationship between art, illusion and the world of drama.”

Quote of the Day

“One eye sees, the other feels.” - Paul Klee

Max Ernst - A Leader of Irrationality in Art

Max Ernst, Zoomorphic Couple (Couple zoomorphe), 1933. Oil on canvas, 91.9 x 73.3 cm. - Peggy Guggenheim Collection. 76.2553 PG 75. Max Ernst © 2003 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris (click photo for larger image)Max Ernst was born in Brühl, Germany. In 1910, he enrolled in the University at Bonn to study philosophy and psychology, but soon abandoned school to pursue his interest in art. In 1914 he, traveled to the Montparnasse Quarter in Paris, where artists from around the world were gathering. It was the seat of the avant-garde.

In 1919, Ernst visited the artist Paul Klee and created his first paintings, block prints and collages, and experimented with mixed media.

Following his service in World War I, he was filled with new ideas. With Jean Arp and the social activist, Alfred Grünwald, Ernst formed the Cologne, Germany Dada group. But two years later, in 1922, he returned to the artistic community at Montparnasse in Paris.

Constantly experimenting, in 1925 he invented frottage, a technique using pencil rubbings of objects. The next year he collaborated with Joan Miró on designs for Sergei Diaghilev. With Miró's help, Ernst pioneered grattage in which he troweled pigment from his canvases. Apart from developing new techniques--Ernst hac a real taste in--and flair for--the bizarre.