PAUL KLEE

Paul Klee was a Swiss-German artist, he had a very unique and individual style in his art, he took influence by movements such as Cubism, Expressionism and Surrealism. He had a huge interest in colour theory and liked to experiment with it, eventually he took an even deeper interest in colour theory and wrote about it extensively. His lectures and writings on Form and Design Theory (Schriften zur Form und Gestaltungslehre), published in English as “The Paul Klee Notebooks” are seen as very important and influential to the practice of modern art.

Maybe the reason he took such an interest in colour therapy was because it’s the one thing he struggled when he studied at the Academy of fine Arts in Munich. He excelled at drawing, but his colour sense didn’t come as naturally, Paul Klee himself later stated "During the third winter I even realized that I probably would never learn to paint."

He worked with his colleague, Russian Painter Wassily Kandinsky, and there work shared certain similarities including a sense of dry humor and a childlike perspective. His moods and beliefs and very personal qualities were often reflected in his work including his musical influence.

Although art was his true passion he started his creative journey as a musician, a decision that his parents mostly forced on to him.

I have read about one of Paul Klee’s books called the “Pedagogical Sketchbook” where he emphasizes his beliefs in process over product in his artwork, it apparently shows his method, witch he believes must be primarily based on the natural rhythms of nature.

Paul Klee himself said “Follow the ways of natural creation, the becoming, and the functioning forms. That is the best school. Then, perhaps, starting from nature you will achieve formations of your own, and one day you may even become like nature yourself and start creating.

Since our project brief tells us to focus on process and not product I think this book would be a fantastic starting point and a useful resource to keep for future reference, so I have ordered the book and plan to use it for this project when I receive it.