Paul Klee attempted to translate the musical technique of polyphony – multiple harmonizing voices – into visual terms. Transparent layers of color overlap, creating a visual counterpoint to polyphony in music through the interplay of color values and contrasts.  

In his teaching at the Bauhaus, Paul Klee also addressed the theme of polyphony, where multiple voices overlap. In doing so, he made a distinction between the homophonic and polyphonic organization of a surface. The organization of a surface is homophonic – univocal – when there is a single layer. It is polyphonic – multivocal – when the artist uses multiple layers to structure the picture plane.

Many of Paul Klee’s works have linear or rhythmic compositions. With their horizontal orientation and vertical structures, they are reminiscent of musical scores. 

Compositions after Klee
Paul Klee’s thought and work has inspired numerous composers. The Zentrum Paul Klee’s archive holds more than 400 scores that relate to individual works or to Klee’s theoretical considerations. Some of the sheet music resembles his artworks.

At concerts and the opera, Paul Klee closely observed what happened on stage. In his works, he portrayed substantive roles in an anecdotal manner. Many of his pieces relate to the musicians of his day – usually with an ironic wink.

In music, the beat provides a clear structure for melody and rhythm. Paul Klee used lines to organize the picture plane, and their irregularity brings the work to life. In some works, the lines correspond to the movements of the conductor’s baton, and form the outline of a ship, for example.  

Paul Klee taught at the Bauhaus from 1921 to 1931. During his time there, he prepared lecture notes in a notebook entitled Contributions to the Pictorial Theory of Form as well as around 3,900 loose manuscript pages, which he compiled as the Theory of Pictorial Configuration.

In a chapter entitled “Structure,” Klee addressed the theme of rhythm. Alongside rhythms in nature, he also used musical rhythms as examples. He translated different rhythms and beats into linear or planar schematic representations. In addition, pencil marks show the movements of a conductor’s baton. 

Theory of Pictorial Form
In Contributions to the Theory of Pictorial Form, Paul Klee described the structural organization of a surface. To illustrate this, he translated two bars from the fourth movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonata for violin and harpsichord in G Major, BWV 1019c.

Music was ever-present in the lives of Lily and Paul Klee: They went to concerts, played music together, and listened to the latest recordings. Well-worn grooves in the records reveal which ones they listened to the most often.   

Paul and Lily Klee’s collection of sheet music encompasses more than 840 compositions. These include pieces for violin or solo piano, concerts, sonatas, string quartets, arias, cantatas, and piano scores for operas. Notations on finger positioning and bow strokes as well as other traces on the sheet music indicate which pieces they played for certain. The repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the twentieth century, with an emphasis on classical music.

We play Bach like there’s no tomorrow.
Paul Klee to Ida Klee, January 3, 1900