Collection

Paul Klee painted this small portrait of his sister, Mathilde, in 1903 upon returning to his parents’ house in Bern on Obstbergweg 6 after a seven-month trip to Italy. In this period, most of Klee’s attention had been fixed on drawing and graphics, in particular nude studies and etchings. His painting was only experimental: he was looking for unconventional combinations of oil and watercolour painting, or testing the different effects of various primers. Klee made a self-critical note in his diary: »Now and then, as an experiment, I’m painting in oils. But I can’t seem to go beyond technical experimentation. There’s no doubt that I’m at the very beginning – or even before the beginning!«

What Klee characterised as an early »experiment« – »Ohne Titel (Die Schwester des Künstlers)«, 1903 [Untitled (The artist's sister)] – is in fact a harmonious, touching portrait of his sister. Compositionally keeping to a strict profile, the young artist executed the head in an almost classical painting style, and recreated the physiognomy of his sister with careful modelling. The sensual, dark blue of the background lends calm and timelessness to the face.

Klee’s interest in the human physiognomy was central to his work. In many of his drawings and paintings, he focused on the concise reproduction of characteristic facial features, often overdrawing them into caricature. But in his creative world, the concept of physiognomy took on a dimension that went far beyond the narrow definition of the word. Every single work has its own »picture physiognomy«, and the idea became a metaphor for the shaping process that always began anew, giving each picture its unmistakable, individual »face«.


See also: Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, »Short Guide«, 2005.