Paul Klee’s oeuvre is permeated by his passion and fascination with theatre more than by any other motif. Raised in a musical family, he developed a lifelong love of the circus, puppet shows, vaudeville, theater, and opera—attending over 300 performances throughout his life.
His visual worlds are filled with characters such as Don Giovanni and Hamlet, as well as archetypal figures like the clown, the mask, and the puppet. They all become integral parts of his artistic vocabulary. Klee views life itself as a grand stage play and revisits the age-old trope of the ‘world as a stage’, transforming people into actors or puppets and allowing everyday scenes to merge with dramatic moments.
This is also true of the present watercolor “Kleines Bühnenbild” (Small Stage Set)—a small yet intricately arranged scene that offers a glimpse behind the scenes of his own artistic imagination. In the foreground, two delicate figures dance across the tiny stage—perhaps a child and a man—while a small dog watches them from the side. But this scene is merely a small fragment within the picture's overall composition. In the background, a colorful and spectacular stage landscape unfolds: amorphous figures in yellow, blue, and pink float across different planes, as if pulled by invisible threads. Despite the two-dimensional composition, Klee creates a fascinating sense of depth, as if a whole universe of colors and forms were opening up behind the idyllic foreground. The side borders are reminiscent of a circus ring, a reference to the diverse theatrical worlds that inspired Klee throughout his life. Perhaps Klee portrays himself and his son Felix here. Between 1916 and 1925, he created around 50 hand puppets for the enthusiastic puppeteer and future director.
The watercolor was created during a difficult period and can therefore certainly be seen as a brief escape from everyday life. In 1916, Klee was drafted into military service, serving in Schleißheim and Augsburg. While friends such as August Macke and Franz Marc were killed in battle, he survived the war years physically unscathed. But the war did not leave his artistic work untouched either—in the same year, he held his first solo exhibition at Herwarth Walden’s legendary gallery, Der Sturm.
Thus, the “Kleine Bühnenbild” is far more than just a picturesque miniature: it unites everyday life and theater, reality and dream in a colorful vision. With this work, Klee created something that continues to fascinate to this day—a small stage on which the world becomes a play. [AW]