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Lot Essay
Following the Armistice ending the First World War in November 1918, Paul Klee was discharged from his military duty and returned to Munich around Christmas-time. He rented a studio in the Schloss Suresnes in the spring of 1919. Painted during the height of this post-war revolutionary period in Germany, Angler Erinnerung aus L. (Angler Memory of L.), also known by the artist’s alternative title Einordnung der Leidenschaft (Classification of Passion), is a colourful and spectacular cosmic fantasy typical of the unique world that Klee constructed for himself during this tumultuous time.
For Klee, birds, aquatic creatures and anglers symbolized the mystic link between man and the cosmos. Angler Erinnerung aus L. depicts an angler and the fish that he is reeling in. Between the angler in his boat and the fish in the sea appears a duck-like creature, suspended between the air and water. Klee was fascinated with the 'free mobility' of birds, and the freedom with which they move between the elements, and in particular birds such as ducks, which both walk, swim and fly: 'We are led to the upper ways by yearning to free ourselves from earthly bonds; by swimming and flying, we free ourselves from constraint in pure mobility' (Schriften, p. 125).
As noted in the provenance, the Munich dealer Hans Goltz acquired this work from Klee in October-December 1919. Klee had signed an exclusive three-year contract with Goltz in October 1919, which was later extended to 1925. In the first year of this arrangement the artist achieved his highest number of picture sales to date. Goltz gave Klee a large solo exhibition at his Galerie Neue Kunst in May-June 1920, which included 371 works. The present work was shown in the second one-man show in July-August of that year, at the Kunstverein Jena. These important exhibitions, as well as numerous group shows in which Klee participated throughout Germany, contributed to the first widespread public recognition of the artist's work.
For Klee, birds, aquatic creatures and anglers symbolized the mystic link between man and the cosmos. Angler Erinnerung aus L. depicts an angler and the fish that he is reeling in. Between the angler in his boat and the fish in the sea appears a duck-like creature, suspended between the air and water. Klee was fascinated with the 'free mobility' of birds, and the freedom with which they move between the elements, and in particular birds such as ducks, which both walk, swim and fly: 'We are led to the upper ways by yearning to free ourselves from earthly bonds; by swimming and flying, we free ourselves from constraint in pure mobility' (Schriften, p. 125).
As noted in the provenance, the Munich dealer Hans Goltz acquired this work from Klee in October-December 1919. Klee had signed an exclusive three-year contract with Goltz in October 1919, which was later extended to 1925. In the first year of this arrangement the artist achieved his highest number of picture sales to date. Goltz gave Klee a large solo exhibition at his Galerie Neue Kunst in May-June 1920, which included 371 works. The present work was shown in the second one-man show in July-August of that year, at the Kunstverein Jena. These important exhibitions, as well as numerous group shows in which Klee participated throughout Germany, contributed to the first widespread public recognition of the artist's work.