Paul Klee

In 1911, Paul Klee began work on illustrations for Voltaire’s novel Candide ou l’optimisme. Several of the illustrations from this project are double-sided. These reworkings clearly demonstrate Klee’s path to the artworks’ definitive form.

Following his marriage to Lily Stumpf in 1906, Klee moved from Bern to Munich, where his artistic output significantly increased. He created more double-sided artworks, mostly studies and variations. In some of these, it is possible to discern a clear connection between front and back in terms of subject matter and composition.

One example of this can be seen in the illustrations Klee created for a proposed publication of Candide. The titular character provided Klee with inspiration for a new type of figure, characterised by a shadowy style caught somewhere between objectivity and free form. The figures are rendered with frenetic, restless gestures on the front and back of the paper. Thanks to the paper’s transparency, the image on the other side is visible, thereby revealing one of the stages in the creative process in pursuit of the artwork’s definitive form.

The shapes and figures that are subtly visible through the paper are preliminary drawings and formal variations. These elusive figures also relate back to the themes of the novel itself, which is characterised by a constant subliminal threat of disaster.

It was not until 1920 that the publication containing Klee’s illustrations was released by the Munich-based Kurt Wolff Verlag. The project accompanied Klee for a number of years during a period of major artistic evolution and therefore plays a crucial role in Klee’s oeuvre.