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Carnival in the Snow

Paul Klee1923

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

In this watercolor, acrobats and circus jugglers emerge from a complex pattern of shapes and colors. Two jugglers share a face and torso. A member of Der Blaue Reiter group in Munich, Paul Klee believed that the elements of color and shape alone could carry connotations of emotions, moods, and subjective feelings. His method was to begin painting without a subject, only settling upon something that could be recognized after layering colored form upon colored form.

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  • Title: Carnival in the Snow
  • Creator: Paul Klee (German, 1879-1940)
  • Date Created: 1923
  • Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 24 x 23.5 cm (9 7/16 x 9 1/4 in.); Secondary Support: 34.5 x 29.3 cm (13 9/16 x 11 9/16 in.)
  • Provenance: "This work was found in the estate of a young graphic designer after his death in 1944. This young man must have been a personal acquaintance of Klee's." (letter from Doris Ryser of Karl u. Faber in departmental file); [Karl u. Faber, Munich, Dec. 11-12, 1968, lot no. 957]; [E.V. Thaw & Co., Inc., New York]
  • Type: Drawing
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.46
  • Medium: watercolor
  • Inscriptions: signed, upper left, in brown ink: Klee ; SECONDARY SUPPORT, by artist, lower center, in brown ink: 1923 /// 40 Karneval im Schnee [slashes part of inscription]
  • Department: Drawings
  • Culture: Germany, 20th century
  • Credit Line: Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Collection: DR - German
  • Accession Number: 1969.46
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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