Paul Klee

Alois I. Schardt, Berlin & Halle (acquired in 1929)
Anna Schardt (by descent from the above; until 1959)
Saidenberg Gallery, New York (acquired circa 1959)
Clarence McKenzie Lewis, Jr., Pittsburgh & Washington D.C (acquired circa 1959; sale: Christie's New York, 6 May 2008, lot 31)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Hellerau, Bildungsanstalt Hellerau, Sammlung moderner Kunst, 1924-1925
New York, Nierendorf Gallery, Paul Klee: An Exhibition in Honor of the Sixtieth Birthday of the Artist, 1940, no. 2.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Nineteenth International Exhibition of Watercolors,  1940, no. 117

Will Grohmann, Paul Klee, Paris, 1929, illustrated
Alois Schardt, Das Übersinnliche bei Paul Klee, exh. cat., Hamburg, Museum der Gegenwart, 1930, p. 37
Jiirgen Glaesemer, Paul Klee. Die farbigen Werke im Kunstmuseum Bern. Gemälde, Farbige, Blätter, Hinterglasbilder und Plastiken, Bern, 1976, p. 341
The Paul Klee Foundation, (ed.), Paul Klee: The Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 2001, vol. 4, no. 3588, illustrated p. 251

Executed on cream laid paper, laid down on the artist's mount. The image is in very good condition. The colours are fresh. There is a small tear to the centre of the extreme right edge of the artist's mount (the edge of which is visible in the catalogue illustration). There is some slight medium rubbing to all four edges of the grey border of the artist's mount, probably due to a previous mounting. Otherwise, this work is in overall good conditon. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, though overall slightly more subtle in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Throughout his career Klee travelled extensively and it was a great stimulus to his art. In 1924 Klee travelled to Sicily with his wife Lily. He produced a series of outstanding watercolours, including the present work, which explored the historically-rich topography and spiritual atmosphere of Sicily (fig. 1). Christina Thompson writes: 'During his vacations, Klee not only enjoyed a relaxing respite from daily life and more time to work but also the opportunity to gather sensual impressions and inspiring experience, which he took back with him from his travels. The reservoirs of motifs, forms, idea, and sketches that he gathered in this way often served, even years later, as a well spring of ideas', and commenting on his trip to Sicily, 'In these works architectural elements join the landscape, and thus the interplay between natural and man-made forms is pictorially explored' (Christina Thompson in The Klee Universe (exhibition catalogue), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2008). Dünenfriedhof is an exceptional example of the manner in which Klee drew inspiration from his surroundings and his abilities to capture the emotional potency of landscape. On his return to Germany he wrote to his wife: 'I am still all ablaze from my impressions of Sicily' (quoted in Paul Klee. Reisen in den Süden (exhibition catalogue), Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm, 1997, p. 127)

Paul Klee's extraordinary imagery, which plays upon mystically inspired exploration of form and colours, was based upon his own extensive philosophical theory of aesthetics which he taught at the Bauhaus alongside Wassily Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger. On the subject of tonality the artist wrote: 'The first thing to concern us is the great wealth of tonal values between the two poles. Ascending from the abyss to the source of light, we are assailed by a sense of the unmatched grandeur and breadth of enhancement from pole to pole. A darksome subterranean rumbling below, a shadowy blurring in the middle, as though we were under water, and the hissing edge of superlight above' (P. Klee, Notebooks. Volume Two: The Nature of Nature, London, 1973, p. 308). In the present work the luminous cobalt blue of the architecture shimmers above a haze of exquisitely gentle gilded-browns and greys.  The palette Klee has employed in Dünenfriedhof is a wonderful manifestation of Klee's theory of tonality and exemplifies his virtuosic use of watercolour.