Paul Klee

Klee took up the theme of the Sphinx four times in his late work. There is an assumption that this relates to his trip to Egypt late in 1928, but there is nothing to link it directly to any specific experience he might have had there or to any of the works he produced during that time. Nor do the various depictions of the Sphinx bear any relation to each other; instead, they should be viewed simply as sharing the same style as other works created during the same period.

“Catastrophe of the Sphinx” is one of thirty-eight paintings Klee produced in 1937. The depiction can be traced back to two preparatory drawings entitled “Drawing for Catastrophe of the Sphinx”  and “Detail for The Sphinx” that Klee faithfully copied, departing from the drawings only by adding further lines around the edges. It is not possible to say for certain whether Klee was thinking of making an oil painting out of these two pencil drawings at the time he was drawing them, which was probably towards the end of 1935. The title “(Detail for The Sphinx)” was only entered into his handwritten catalogue of works after the event. The abstract composition, then, had no title to start with: it was an image waiting to receive a designation. In “Drawing for Catastrophe of the Sphinx” the two words »Drawing for« are inserted above the title, which would also indicate that Klee established the connection with the drawings only after executing the oil painting.

It was in November 1935 that Klee was first taken ill, hit by a disease that was to be diagnosed as progressive scleroderma only after his death; it compelled him to stop working for some considerable time. Only in February 1937 was he fully able to resume work and translate the two drawings into a painting. It should therefore come as no surprise that he reverted in style to the endless line that appeared in some works of 1934/1935. Around the lower left and right edges, however, he added some marks of a symbolic character and some letter-like shapes that are characteristic of his late work.

The painting’s use of oil colours remains restrained and its tonal expression is that of the years preceding the onset of his illness. The Sphinx itself stands out from its reddish-brown surroundings only by virtue of its paler tones, which are lightened by the addition of white. The rather sombre, earth-coloured shades and the slightly skewed yet expressionless face allude to the catastrophe of the mythological creature vanquished and killed by Oedipus.

“Catastrophe of the Sphinx” is a work that embodies the transition between the period that followed the artist’s exile to Bern and his distinctive late style.