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Paul Klee
1879, Munchenbuchsee, Switzerland - 1940, Muralto, Switzerland Angelus Novus Oil transfer and watercolor on paper 31.8 x 24.2 cm Gift of Fania and Gershom Scholem, Jerusalem; John Herring, Marlene and Paul Herring, Jo Carole and Ronald Lauder, New York Public Domain Accession number: B87.0994 |
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Paul Klee’s singular drawing Angelus Novus, with its evocation of mystical realms, has a history that echoes the philosophical and political turbulence of its time. It was created during a breakthrough year in Klee’s career: in 1920 he had his first large-scale exhibition in Munich, was about to join the Weimar Bauhaus, and completed his artistic credo, “Creative Confession,” in which he set forth his metaphysical perception of reality. The supernatural beings that inhabit Klee’s work—during the last years of his life he created some fifty celestial angels—must be understood in that metaphysical context. This drawing intrigued the German Jewish philosopher and literary critic Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), who purchased it in 1921. After World War II Benjamin’s lifelong friend, Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), the distinguished scholar of Jewish mysticism, inherited the drawing. According to Scholem, Benjamin felt a mystical identification with the Angelus Novus and incorporated it in his theory of the “angel o From the Israel Museum publications: Zalmona, Yigal, ed., The Israel Museum at 40: Masterworks of Beauty and Sanctity, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2005 The Israel Museum, Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2005 Beauty and Sanctity: the Israel Museum at 40. A Series of Exhibitions Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2006 Exhibitions: The Beauty of Sanctity: Masterworks from Every Age, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Spring-Summer 2005 Dada Surrealism and Beyond in the Israel Museum, 2007 Digital presentation of this object was made possible by: Nancy Wald, in honor of the memory of Benjamin Miller |
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