Koller View 2/21

9 In April 1914, Paul Klee travelled to Tunisia to paint. His companions were the German August Macke and the Swiss Louis Moilliet, fellow artists from the same gen- eration whom Klee had met and come to appreciate a tectonic abstractions echo Mediterranean motifs; the forms evoke sailboats or tents, beach landscapes and waves. At the same time, the painting, composed in geometric forms and stark colours, bears strong Bau- haus influences. The gouache ‘Bergschlucht’ (Mountain Gorge) from 1934 (ill. 3) is a fine example of the shift in colours and formal language in Klee’s late work. His subjects now appear much softer and more powdery than before, yet still suggestively abstract; geometric severity has now given way to more open forms. Between Tunis and Dessau year earlier in Hilterfingen on Lake Thun. The trip had a lasting effect on the artistic work of all three travellers, and today it is considered a significant event in the his- tory of modern art, a milestone in the transition from Expressionism to non-objective painting. Among the locations where the three artists paint- ed were Tunis, Hammamet and Kairouan. The forms, impressions and especially the luminous colours that Klee experienced there and incorporated into his compositions continued to resonate in his work for al- most a decade – for example in the ‘Kleine Landschaft’ (Small Landscape) of 1915 (ill. 2), where he achieved an artistic metamorphosis through the interweaving and interactions of various pictorial concepts. Klee described this period as one in which he tackled the ‘synthesis of urban and pictorial architecture’. Klee’s summery, playful composition ‘Côte de Provence’ (ill. 1), created in1927aspart of a seven-part series, coincides with the artist’s important Bau­ haus years, initiated by Walter Gropius. His first solo exhibition of 39 watercolours had taken place in Par- is two years earlier, at the Vavin-Raspail gallery. The FOR FURTHER INFORMATION IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART Jara Koller jara.koller@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUES www.kollerauctions.com 1 P aul Klee (1879–1940). Côte de Provence 5. 1927. Watercolour on paper on artist’s board. 11.4 × 32 cm. Estimate: CHF 220 000/300 000 2 P aul Klee (1879–1940). Kleine Landschaft, Hauptsäch- lichmit Farb=Quadraten. 1915. Watercolour and pencil on chalk-primed paper on artist’s board. 13.5 × 11.5 cm. Estimate: CHF 250 000/350 000 3 P aul Klee (1879–1940). Bergschlucht. 1934. Gou- ache and chalk on primed paper on artist’s board. 37.4 × 49.3 cm. Estimate: CHF 350 000/400 000 1 2 3