Arctic dew (1920), a work by Paul Klee

After three years of military service from March 1916 to February 1919, Klee rented a studio in Munich in the spring of 1919 and seriously began creating oil paintings. Arctic Dew was painted in oil on board in 1920.

The work titled Arctic Dew depicts Klee’s imaginary landscape of the North Pole.

Klee painted surges of beautiful colors recalling the northern lights at the upper part and rhythmical simple lines for pointed icebergs in the middle and lower parts.

The painting has two suns, one in the sky in the upper part and the other with the same size located immediately below the sun in the upper part.

Arctic Dew was exhibited at Bauhaus 1919-1928 held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1938.

The page 181 of the exhibition catalogue was dedicated to the large image of this painting alone.

We may say the size of the image in the catalogue was proportional to the reputation Klee earned at the time of the exhibition.

The title of the work in the catalogue was Arctic Thaw. The second sun in the lower part of the painting is a reflection on the surface of the melted ice.

In 1920, when this painting was drawn, Walter Gropius invited Klee to Bauhaus in Weimar to serve as a professor.

While teaching at Bauhaus for 10 years from 1921 to 1931, Klee could spend his time for creation and study. As a painter, it was the most productive time for Klee.