Collection

When just seventeen and still at school, Paul Klee drew »Meine Bude«, 1896 [My pad], his room at No. 8, Marienstrasse in Bern’s Kirchenfeld district. Four weeks before leaving for his new home on Kistlerweg in Bern’s Obstberg (in the Schosshalden district), he also mapped out the floor plan of his bedroom in a notebook. He seems to have felt very much at home in this room and, shortly before the move, wanted to record every detail of the familiar space. He probably felt that the imminent parting also signalled the end of his sheltered childhood.

Although the occupant of the room in that floor plan is not visible, he is present in the objects and labels he added. »Hic ego! Here I am!« – this label placed Klee in the middle of the picture, close to the rug he had drawn, in so doing portraying himself – a little self-mockingly – as an upright and intellectual young man. Music stand and wastepaper basket, stove and vase – he meticulously logged everything on the plan, a character trait that would stand him in good stead in his later career as an artist. The bed is described as a »nest«. Interesting objects on the writing table include a fountain pen and a workbook, which he labels with the remark »(Oh, the irony!)« in brackets, leaving one to conjecture that Klee was not always overly enthused with his schoolwork.

Klee drew »Meine Bude« before he mapped out the floor plan of his room; comparing the two, it becomes clear that the view of the room he chose for the picture cannot incorporate all the details of the floor plan. »Meine Bude« is a fairly accurate representation of the room as seen from the doorway, the schoolboy managing to master the perils of perspective and lighting with astonishing assuredness. The mirror’s baroque-style frame and the legs of the washing stand in the right-hand corner are testimonies of his level of technical maturity. The window, with its view of a graceful tree, occupies the centre of the picture. The oil lamp lights up the writing table and right-hand wall. Two piles of books and an open volume suggest that the occupant is a young man who likes reading, writing and drawing. The furniture is unassuming, yet tasteful and solidly bourgeois.


See also: Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Kindermuseum Creaviva, »Didactic Modules«, 2005.