Paul Klee

Hans & Erika Meyer-Benteli, Bern

Berggruen & Cie., Paris (acquired from the above in 1956)

Hendrickx Collection, Brussels (acquired from the above in 1957)

Hamilton Galleries, London

Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired in 1960)

Klaus Dohrn, Frankfurt (acquired from the above in 1965)

Sale: Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, 23rd May 1977, lot 1048a

Fridart Foundation, Amsterdam (sold: Sotheby's, London, 29th June 1988, lot 359)

Yoyoi Gallery, Japan (purchased at the above sale)

Ogawa Museum of Art, Tokyo (acquired in 1991. Sold: Christie's, New York, 19th November 1998, lot 577)

Purchased at the above sale by the late owner

Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Klee, 1963, no. 41, illustrated in colour in the catalougue

Paris, Galerie Tarica, Paul Klee, 1963, illustrated in the catalogue

Southampton, Southampton City Art Gallery; Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery & Manchester, Manchester Art Gallery, Sounds of Colour, 1982-85, no. 18

Geneva, Galerie Jan Krugier, Ditesheim & Cie., Paul Klee. Traces de la mémoire, 1998-99, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz,  Linie, Licht und Schatten. Meisterzeichnungen und Skulpturen der Sammlung Jan und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 1999, no. 159, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, The Timeless Eye. Master Drawings from the Jan and Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski Collection,1999, no. 168, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Miradas sin Tiempo. Dibujos, Pinturas y Esculturas de la Coleccion Jan y Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2000, no. 168, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, La Passion du Dessin. Collection Jan et Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2002, no. 153, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Munich, Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Das Ewige Auge - Von Rembrandt bis Picasso. Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2007, no. 166, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

The Artist's Handlist, 1931, no. 165 (S. 5)

The Artist's Handlist, 1932, no. 251 (W 11)

François Choay, 'Sur l'ambiguité fondamentale de la peinture contemporaine', in Cercle d'Art Contemporain, Zurich, 1960, illustrated p. 102

Paul Klee Foundation (ed.), Paul Klee, Catalogue raisonné, Bern, 2002, vol. 6, no. 5570, illustrated p. 119

Executed on paper and laid down on the artist's board, hinged to the mount at the top two corners. There is some significant foxing throughout the artist's board, intrinsic to the material, and some slight discolouration. Apart from some very subtle discolouration to the sheet, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the colours are overall slightly richer and the reds are 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."

Mit dem Eingang, centred on a single rectangle of colour, and populated by dashes of bright colour overlaying a softly hued ground, possesses a lyrical quality unique to the works of Paul Klee. The artist’s experimental approach to painting sought to represent a synthesis of sound and colour - thereby becoming ‘polyphonic’. In works such as Mit dem Eingang and Polyphonie (fig. 1) Klee achieved this by reviving the Neo-Impressionist practise of pointillism. Discussing the emergence of the pointillist pictures in the early 1930s, Christine Hopfengart suggests: Their common feature is the screen-like application of coloured dots on the painted surface, similar in appearance to the divisionist works of late-Impressionist painters such as Georges Seurat or Paul Signac at the turn of the nineteenth century. […] Unlike Seurat, Klee’s concern with his pointillist experiments was not to reproduce the visible spectrum of colour in the manner of an ‘improved camera’, but to artistically exploit the investigations of simultaneous and complementary contrasts that he had intensively pursued in the context of his teaching at the Bauhaus’ (C. Hopfengart, Paul Klee. Life and Work, Bern, 2012, p. 236).