Paul Klee

Sources: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Met: Static-Dynamic Gradation, The Met: Little Hope, MoMA: Around the Fish, MoMA: Pastorale (Rhythms), MoMA: Fire in the Evening, Guggenheim Museum: Magic Garden.

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  Watercolor paint

  Little Hope (1938) combines watercolor with plaster on burlap mounted on cardboard. The Met records the pale washes and textured support separately; plaster is a surface material, not a watercolor binder. Klee also used watercolor in the painted border of Static-Dynamic Gradation (1923), alongside ink and gouache.

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  Gouache paint

  In Static-Dynamic Gradation (1923), oil and gouache on paper create an ordered sequence of shifting colors, bordered with more gouache, watercolor, and ink. For Passing By Red Pillars (1928), Klee stamped gouache over watercolor, casein, and a colored gesso ground on paper. These museum records identify the different media rather than treating the whole painted surface as gouache.

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  Oil paint

  Fire in the Evening (1929) is oil on cardboard. A vivid red upright shape cuts through horizontal color bands that evoke the layered landscape Klee saw during his trip to Egypt. MoMA also records oil together with tempera in Around the Fish (1926), painted on canvas later mounted on cardboard.

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  Tempera paint

  Klee combined oil and tempera in Around the Fish (1926), where symbols, colored shapes, and a central fish float against a dark ground. Pastorale (Rhythms) (1927) is tempera on canvas mounted on wood. MoMA lists tempera without specifying an egg binder in either record, so the works should not automatically be described as egg tempera.

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  Casein paint

  The National Gallery of Art records casein in Passing By Red Pillars (1928), together with watercolor, stamped gouache, and colored gesso on paper. The milk-protein binder is documented as one component of this complex paper work, not as evidence that every Klee color study was painted in casein.

Sources: The Met: Little Hope, watercolor and plaster, The Met: Static-Dynamic Gradation, oil, gouache, and watercolor, MoMA: Fire in the Evening, oil on cardboard, MoMA: Around the Fish, oil and tempera, MoMA: Pastorale, tempera on canvas, and National Gallery of Art: Passing By Red Pillars, casein and other paints on paper.

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  Paper

  Klee’s works on paper include watercolors, drawings, and painted compositions. The Met’s Little Hope combines watercolor with plaster on burlap mounted on cardboard, while MoMA’s Passing By Red Pillars uses casein, watercolor, and gouache on paper. The sheet or attached textile remains the painted support in each construction.

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  Canvas

  Klee painted on canvas in works such as MoMA’s Around the Fish (1926), an oil-and-tempera composition later mounted on cardboard, and the Art Institute’s Pastorale (Rhythms), tempera on canvas mounted on wood. These records show both direct canvas and canvas with a secondary backing.

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  Painting Board

  Klee used rigid boards as supports and backings in several constructions. MoMA records Fire in the Evening as oil on cardboard and Around the Fish as canvas mounted on cardboard; these supports let him combine a painted sheet with a stable panel.

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  Cardboard

  Klee used cardboard for works such as Fire in the Evening, an oil painting on cardboard, and as a backing for canvas or paper. The support becomes part of the work’s construction, distinct from the immediate painted surface where a sheet is mounted to it.

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  Fabric

  Klee’s works include fabric supports such as the burlap in Little Hope, which the Met records with watercolor and plaster and mounted on cardboard. The coarse woven textile remains visible through the material, unlike a smooth paper sheet or canvas.

Sources: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Met: Static-Dynamic Gradation, The Met: Little Hope, MoMA: Around the Fish, MoMA: Pastorale (Rhythms).