| Death and Fire | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Paul Klee |
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Oil and coloured paste on burlap [1] |
| Dimensions | 43 cm× 43 cm(17 in× 17 in) |
| Location | Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland |
Death and Fire, known in German as Tod und Feuer, is a 1940 expressionist painting by Paul Klee.
Death and Fire was one of Klee's last paintings before his death on June 29, 1940. In 1935 Klee started to suffer from scleroderma, which manifested itself with fatigue, skin rashes, difficulty in swallowing, shortness of breath and pain in the joints of his hands. [2] Paintings during this period tended to be simpler and representative of the suffering he was going through. [3] "Tod", the German word for death, is a common motif throughout the painting. It can be seen most distinctly in the features of the face, though the "d" and "t" are rotated. The word can also be seen in the figure's raised arm as the "T", the yellow orb as the "O", and the figure's head (or torso) as the "D".
The painting also represents hieroglyphics, an interest of Klee's during this time, [4] which can also be seen in many of his other late 1930s paintings, such as Insula dulcamara (1938) and Heroische Rosen (1938). As of 2014 [update] , it is on display at Zentrum Paul Klee, a museum in Bern, Switzerland that is dedicated to the works of Paul Klee. [3]
Systemic scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis, is an autoimmune rheumatic disease characterised by excessive production and accumulation of collagen, called fibrosis, in the skin and internal organs and by injuries to small arteries. There are two major subgroups of systemic sclerosis based on the extent of skin involvement: limited and diffuse. The limited form affects areas below, but not above, the elbows and knees with or without involvement of the face. The diffuse form also affects the skin above the elbows and knees and can also spread to the torso. Visceral organs, including the kidneys, heart, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract can also be affected by the fibrotic process. Prognosis is determined by the form of the disease and the extent of visceral involvement. Patients with limited systemic sclerosis have a better prognosis than those with the diffuse form. Death is most often caused by lung, heart, and kidney involvement. The risk of cancer is increased slightly.
Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually deeply explored color theory, writing about it extensively; his lectures Writings on Form and Design Theory, published in English as the Paul Klee Notebooks, are held to be as important for modern art as Leonardo da Vinci's A Treatise on Painting was for the Renaissance. He and his colleague, Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture in Germany. His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality.
Degenerate art was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, was removed from state-owned museums and banned in Nazi Germany on the grounds that such art was an "insult to German feeling", un-German, Freemasonic, Jewish, or Communist in nature. Those identified as degenerate artists were subjected to sanctions that included being dismissed from teaching positions, being forbidden to exhibit or to sell their art, and in some cases being forbidden to produce art.
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Shinji Turner-Yamamoto is a Japanese artist based in the U.S. known for paintings, sculptures, and site-specific art installations employing elemental materials such as trees, fossils, and minerals, creating profound viewer connections with nature. He works with identifiable imagery to encourage humanity to encounter the essential in nature and time in new and unexpected ways and is committed to using historic and natural elements in his work as meditations on the universe.
Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas of thickened skin, stiffness, feeling tired, and poor blood flow to the fingers or toes with cold exposure. One form of the condition, known as CREST syndrome, classically results in calcium deposits, Raynaud's syndrome, esophageal problems, thickening of the skin of the fingers and toes, and areas of small, dilated blood vessels.
Paul Klee Notebooks is a two-volume work by the Swiss-born artist Paul Klee that collects his lectures at the Bauhaus schools in 1920s Germany and his other main essays on modern art. These works are considered so important for understanding modern art that they are compared to the importance that Leonardo's A Treatise on Painting had for Renaissance. Herbert Read called the collection "the most complete presentation of the principles of design ever made by a modern artist – it constitutes the Principia Aesthetica of a new era of art, in which Klee occupies a position comparable to Newton's in the realm of physics."
Ab ovo is a 1917 painting by Paul Klee (1879–1940) made during his time in the German Army. It is noteworthy for its sophisticated technique. It employs watercolor on gauze and paper with a chalk ground, which produces a rich texture of triangular, circular, and crescent patterns.
Fate of the Animals is a painting by Franz Marc created in 1913. It is oil on canvas. This work contrasts most of Marc's other works by presenting animals in a brutal way rather than depicting them in a peaceful manner. Marc's strong ties with animals as his subjects remains uncertain, but it is predicted to stem from his childhood dog. Fate of the Animals remains one of Marc's most famous pieces and displays Der Blaue Reiter style that he co-founded with Wassily Kandinsky. The painting currently resides in the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland.
David Fried is an American interdisciplinary, contemporary artist.
Limits of Reason is a 1927 painting by Paul Klee (1879-1940). It is in the permanent collection of the Pinakothek der Moderne—Pinakothek of modern art—in central Munich's Kunstareal.
Ad Parnassum is a pointillist painting by Swiss-born artist Paul Klee. The painting is currently in the Kunstmuseum Bern.
Villa R is an oil-on-carton painting from 1919 by the Swiss-born German artist Paul Klee.
Insula dulcamara is an oil painting on newsprint pasted to burlap by the Swiss-based abstract artist Paul Klee, completed in 1938 when he was suffering from the wasting disease scleroderma. It is his largest work and part of the collection of the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern.
The Donkey Rider is a watercolor created in 1914 by the German Expressionist painter August Macke. It was created during the art-historically significant trip to Tunisia that he took with fellow painters Paul Klee and Louis Moilliet in April 1914. The watercolor is now in the collection of the August-Macke-Haus in Bonn.
Cat and Bird is a painting by Swiss German painter Paul Klee, created in 1928. It was made when Klee was a teacher at the Bauhaus Dessau. The painting depicts the wide face of a stylized cat with a small bird perched on its forehead. It is held in the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.
Angel, Still Groping is a watercolor on paper painting by Swiss German painter Paul Klee, from 1939. it is held at the Zentrum Paul Klee, in Bern.
Heroic Roses, known in German as Heroische Rosen, is an oil on stained canvas expressionist painting by Swiss-German painter Paul Klee, from 1938. It is held in the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, in Düsseldorf.
Media related to Death and Fire by Paul Klee at Wikimedia Commons