Paul Klee
Young Sportswoman, 1938
Coloured paste on paper on cardboard, 59 x 40,5 cm
Private collection, Switzerland, Held at the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
Paul Klee painted this late work in 1938. The artist depicts a highly simplified stick figure: one arm reaches up, the other down, and the legs are spread apart. It appears that the figure is stretching. The curved lines of the right arm and leg, the head, and the lower body resemble taut arches: they create a sense of tension within the composition. Klee painted “Young Sportswoman” at a time when physical exercise, gymnastics, and sports were experiencing a boom. Following industrialization and the advent of leisure time, sports became widespread among all social classes and genders at the beginning of the 20th century. The “Lebensreform” and nudist movements, which emphasized “natural lifestyles,” were closely linked to it. These movements were also widespread in Switzerland, including at Monte Verità in Ticino. National Socialist ideology strove for a “healthy national body” and advocated for sports and exercise. But it led to “racial hygiene” and the murder of people who did not conform to this schema.