God of War
1937
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (German: ; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist.
See the richer artist page1937
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
God of War is a 1937 by Paul Klee, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a tangle of thick black lines and bright red shapes on a sheet of old newspaper. Klee painted this during the rise of fascism in Europe. The newsprint underneath—about the Spanish Civil War—peeks through, mixing real-world fear with his jagged, childlike figures. It’s like he’s saying history and art can’t be separated. If you like how Klee turns worry into simple shapes, look up impasto—a technique where paint is laid on so thick it stands out from the surface.
This drawing belongs to a series of large format works with bold colors, thick painterly lines, and pictograph formations that Paul Klee created late in his career. The period during which they were made was marked by anxiety for the artist, as political turmoil grew in Europe during the 1930s. To suggest this experience, Klee painted on a sheet of newspaper, allowing the printed text to intermingle with his own sign-like marks. The article visible here, for example, discusses the Spanish civil war. The figures that dominate the work more subtly suggest this crisis, including a large face…
Shortly before this drawing was made, Paul Klee was exiled from Germany to his native Switzerland due to the political turmoil that led to World War II.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Paul Klee (German: ; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist.
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