Paul Klee
War on Height, 1914
Pen on paper on cardboard, 12 x 17/17,5 cm
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
In the early 1910s, Klee developed an individual style of drawing. Few other artists of his time engaged with line in such a modern, experimental, and fascinating manner. Drawings such as “War on Height” led to Klee’s earliest recognition as an important artistic voice. Here, Klee combined unusual, cloud-like forms with short, scribbled strokes. Yet these marks do not describe the physical appearance of these forms. Abstract, they seem to move chaotically. During this period, Klee spoke of the “psyche of line.” Instead of serving a descriptive function, line conveys a mood – in this case, that of the First World War.