Death and Fire
| 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 |
Death and Fire, known in German as Tod und Feuer, is an expressionist painting by Paul Klee, from 1940. It is on display at Zentrum Paul Klee, in Bern.[2]
Meaning and History
Death and Fire was one of Klee's last paintings, shortly 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.[3] His painting during this period tended to be simpler and representative of the suffering he was going through.[2] "Tod", the German word for death, is a common motif throughout this 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".
Hieroglyphics
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 Heroic Roses (1938).[2]
See also
References
- ^ "Death and Fire". Zentrum Paul Klee Collection. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ a b c Aronson, Jeffrey; Ramachandran, Manoj (2010-02-01). "The diagnosis of art: Scleroderma in Paul Klee – and Rembrandt's scholar?". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 103 (2): 70–71. doi:10.1258/jrsm.2009.09k079. PMC 2813781. PMID 22141181.
- ^ Varga, J. (November 2004). "Illness and art: the legacy of Paul Klee". Current Opinion in Rheumatology. 16 (6): 714–717. doi:10.1097/01.bor.0000144759.30154.84. PMID 15577609.
- ^ "Death and Fire, 1940 by Paul Klee". Paul Klee.net. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
External links
Media related to Death and Fire by Paul Klee at Wikimedia Commons
