Depicting boats at their moorings, the painting characterizes much of the whimsical nature of the artist's work, particularly during the 1920s. During that fruitfi\ul decade, Klee taught at the Bauhaus, the famous art school in Germany which exerted such a great influence on twentieth-century architecture and design. During his tenure at the Bauhaus, the artist formulated his theories of modern art.
Klee, born near Bern, received his formal art training in Munich, where he later met, Kandinsky, Marc. Jawlensky and other avant-garde artists of the time. He became a member of the Blue Rider, an association of modern artists who exhibited together.
A highly gifted and complex artist, Klee was embraced by the Expressionists (who admired the straightforward, primitive nature of his "child-like" drawings) and by the Surrealists (who felt a kinship with Klee's espousal of fantasy and the dream world). Attempts to categorize him into one school or another invariably fail because of the artist's inventiveness, experimentation and virtuosity.
Source: Bulletin, January-February 1972.
Exhibition History"Paul Klee: The Bauhaus Years," Des Moines Art Center, Sept. 18 - Oct. 28, 1973
"Paul Klee 1879-1940: A Retrospective Exhibition," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, N.Y., Feb. - Apr. 1967
Published ReferencesTHE ART QUARTERLY, Summer 1972, ref. p.194
DMAC Bulletin, Jan./Feb. 1972, cover ill.
"Paul Klee 1879 - 1940," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, N. Y., 1967, exh. cat. ill. pl. no.98, p.78
Des Moines Sunday Register, Dec. 26, 1971, ill. p.2-B (upside down)
"Paul Klee: The Bahaus Years," Des Moines Art Center, 1973, exh. cat. no.38, ill.
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.94 & 95
AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.157, color ill. p.156
Board: 11 1/2 × 13 1/2 in. (29.2 × 34.3 cm)
Image: 10 3/4 × 12 3/4 in. (27.3 × 32.4 cm)
