Editing Paul Klee (section)

== Mature career ==
[[File:Paul Klee, 1922, Red Balloon, oil on chalk-primed gauze, mounted on board, 31.7 x 31.1 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|thumb|left|''Red Balloon'', 1922, oil on muslin primed with chalk, 31.8 × 31.1&nbsp;cm. The [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], New York]]

In 1919 Klee applied for a teaching post at the [[State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart|Academy of Art in Stuttgart]],<ref>Anger, Jenny. ''Paul Klee and the Decorative in Modern Art'', Cambridge University Press 2004 pp. 120–122</ref> but the attempt failed. After that he managed to secure a three-year contract, with a minimum annual income, with dealer [[Hans Goltz]], whose influential gallery gave Klee major exposure, and some commercial success. A retrospective of over 300 works, in 1920, was also notable.<ref>Partsch, p. 44</ref>

Klee taught at the [[Bauhaus]] from January 1921 to April 1931.<ref>Geelhaar, Christian (1972). ''Paul Klee und das Bauhaus.'' DuMont Schauberg, Köln, p. 9</ref> He was a "Form" master in the bookbinding, stained glass, and mural painting workshops and was provided with two studios.<ref>Jardi, p. 17</ref> In 1922, Kandinsky joined the staff and resumed his friendship with Klee. Later that year the first Bauhaus exhibition and festival was held, for which Klee created several of the advertising materials.<ref>Jardi, p. 18</ref> Klee welcomed the many conflicting theories and opinions within the Bauhaus: "I also approve of these forces competing one with the other if the result is achievement."<ref>Partsch, p. 48</ref>

[[File:GUGG Tropical Gardening.jpg|thumb|left|''Tropical Gardening'', 1923 watercolor and oil transfer drawing on paper, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.]]

Klee was also a member of [[Die Blaue Vier]] (The Blue Four), with Kandinsky, [[Lyonel Feininger]], and [[Alexej von Jawlensky]], which formed in 1923, at the instigation of Galka Scheyer, who subsequently organized exhibitions of their work in the United States. In 1924, Klee had his first exhibits in Paris, and he became a hit with the French Surrealists.<ref>Jardi, pp. 18–19</ref> Klee visited Egypt in 1928, which impressed him less than Tunisia. In 1929, the first major [[monograph]] on Klee's work was published, written by Will Grohmann.<ref>Jardi, p. 20</ref>

[[File:Nocturnal Festivity.JPG|thumb|''Nocturnal Festivity'', 1921, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.]]

Klee also taught at the [[Kunstakademie Düsseldorf|Düsseldorf Academy]] from 1931 to 1933, and was singled out by a Nazi newspaper, "Then that great fellow Klee comes onto the scene, already famed as a Bauhaus teacher in Dessau. He tells everyone he's a thoroughbred Arab, but he's a typical Galician Jew."<ref name="Partsch, p. 73">Partsch, p. 73</ref> His home was searched by the [[Gestapo]] and he was fired from his job.<ref name="EdinburghShow">[http://www.studio-international.co.uk/painting/klee_sng.asp The private Klee: Works by Paul Klee from the Bürgi Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009101029/http://www.studio-international.co.uk/painting/klee_sng.asp |date=9 October 2009 }} Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 12 August – 20 October 2000</ref><ref>Partsch, p. 55</ref> His self-portrait ''Struck from the List'' (1933) commemorates the sad occasion.<ref name="Partsch, p. 73"/> In 1933–34, Klee had shows in London and Paris, and finally met [[Pablo Picasso]], whom he greatly admired.<ref name="Jardi, p. 23">Jardi, p. 23</ref> The Klee family emigrated to Switzerland in late 1933.<ref name="Jardi, p. 23"/>

Klee was at the peak of his creative output. His ''[[Ad Parnassum (Klee)|Ad Parnassum]]'' (1932) is considered his masterpiece and the best example of his [[Pointillism|pointillist style]]; it is also one of his largest, most finely worked paintings.<ref>Partsch, p. 64</ref><ref>Kagan, p. 42</ref> He produced nearly 500 works in 1933 during his last year in Germany.<ref>Partsch, p. 74</ref> However, in 1933, Klee began experiencing the symptoms of what was diagnosed as [[scleroderma]] after his death. The progression of his fatal disease, which made swallowing very difficult, can be followed through the art he created in his last years. His output in 1936 was only 25 pictures. In the later 1930s, his health recovered somewhat and he was encouraged by a visit from Kandinsky and Picasso.<ref>Jardi, p. 25</ref> Klee's simpler and larger designs enabled him to keep up his output in his final years, and in 1939 he created over 1,200 works, a career high for one year.<ref>Partsch, p. 76</ref> He used heavier lines and mainly geometric forms with fewer but larger blocks of color. His varied color palettes, some with bright colors and others somber, perhaps reflected his alternating moods of optimism and pessimism.<ref>Partsch, pp. 77–80</ref> Back in Germany in 1937, seventeen of Klee's pictures were included in an exhibition of "[[Degenerate art]]" and 102 of his works in public collections were seized by the Nazis.<ref>Partsch, p. 94</ref>