Fish Magic

Gallery 288, Modern and Contemporary Art, second floor (Brodsky Gallery)

Main Building

Fish Magic

1925

Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879–1940)

In Fish Magic, Paul Klee creates a magical realm where the aquatic, the celestial, and the earthly intermingle. A delicate black surface covers an underlayer of colors, which the artist revealed by scratching and scrawling designs in the black paint. At the center of the painting, a square of muslin is glued onto the canvas. A long diagonal line reaching to the top of the clock tower is poised as if to whisk off this subtle curtain.

Gallery 288, Modern and Contemporary Art, second floor (Brodsky Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

Fish Magic

Date:

1925

Artist:

Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879–1940)

Medium:

Oil and watercolor on canvas on panel

Dimensions:

30 3/8 × 38 3/4 inches (77.2 × 98.4 cm) Framed: 38 5/16 × 46 1/2 × 3 1/4 inches (97.3 × 118.1 × 8.3 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950

Accession Number:

1950-134-112

Geography:

Made in Europe

Provenance

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Gallery 288, Modern and Contemporary Art, second floor (Brodsky Gallery)

Main Building

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