Paul Klee

Even four years after the end of the war, references to war themes and Paul Klee’s experiences are still to be found in his work: For instance the picture „The Dart House“. In the middle of the picture an arrow is falling down. Flying arrows were steel bolts with wings, which at the beginning of the First World War were thrown out of containers in aircraft. They were extremely inaccurate but a bolt thrown from a height of 1500 metres could completely penetrate a human body or the helmet of a soldier.

Only the indication of the weapon in the title and the exact depiction of such a bullet, is reminding Paul Klee of the First World War. The picture itself emanates nothing warlike. Apparently Klee was interested in combining the contrasts of movement, statics and gravity. The massive building, constructed of coloured areas, which strangely appears to hover in the space, lends the seemingly delicate and vertically downward plunging arrow, a sudden weight. The arrow apparently not only keeps the house in the picture, preventing it from floating away, but pulls it forcibly downwards.