Name ______Homeroom Teacher ______
Behind the Masterpieces A look at the life and work of the artists behind famous artworks Paul Klee First, let’s learn to say his name: Klee is pronounced similar to the word clay. Try it a few times!
Senecio, 1922 Red Bridge, 1928 Castle and Sun, 1928 Becoming an artist Paul Klee was born in Switzerland in 1879. Both of his parents were musicians and he loved music so much he thought he might become a musician too. He learned to play the violin but after creating drawings with sidewalk chalk his grandmother gave him he realized he liked drawing even more and decided to study art to become an artist! When Paul Klee first created art he didn’t use any color because he thought his art didn’t need it. Eventually he discovered how wonderful color was and started creating beautiful, colorful, paintings.
Art Movement and Style: Taking a closer look h
Take a minute and look at the three artworks above painted by Paul Klee.
Paul Klee made many artworks where his subject matter (what he painted) was made out of geometric shapes. The subject in the first painting is a portrait (picture of a person). The last painting has a castle as the subject. Take a close look at the painting in the middle.
Besides a bridge what do you think the subject is in the middle painting? ______
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These paintings of Paul Klee’s are known as cubism. We’ve already studied another artist who created cubist artwork using mostly squares and rectangles. Do you remember his name? Check out this artwork to see if that helps you remember him.
It was Piet Mondrian!
Breaking down the Abstract
Can you find the geometric shapes listed below in any of Paul Klee’s paintings? When you find a shape draw it yourself in the space below! How many will you find?!
Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Circle, Semi-Circle, Trapezoid, Diamond
Try to write the name of the geometric shape underneath each drawing you make!
Can you create with shapes? Using the shapes you drew above, can you make an artwork showing the building you live in?