Paul Klee
Known for his wonderful use of simplified shapes and amplified color, Paul Klee ( 1879 - 1940) was a Swiss painter of German nationality. Both parents were musicians as was he, although his future led him successfully in the field of painting and drawing to become an instructor at the Bauhaus, a famous German art school started in 1919 to initiate the combination of arts and crafts in one institution.
Klee's artwork was widely recognized for two things: color and simplicity. Athough it is hard to categorize precisely what style he used, he was certainly influenced by, and recognized as, one of the original cubists of the cubism/futerist movement.
Below are some of our kindergarten students having fun creating their own simplified portrait inspired by Paul Klee's famous Portrait of a Man.
Experimenting with color's endless possibilities and delicate radiance, we had our older students create graded washes, or a series of colors from their darkest to lightest value, essentially honing their brush control and value with watercolor. This was then applied to a picture of their choice, simplified to its essential compositional elements as in Klee's Tunisian Garden's below...
One of our students was able to create over 32 different greens using only blue and yellow ( ok and a touch of brown) for just one painting. Could you?
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