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Angel Applicant

Paul Klee German, born Switzerland
1939
Not on view
It seems doubtful that this Angel Applicant, resembling the offspring of a bulldog and a Halloween mask, will ever reach heaven. In 1939, Klee composed twenty-nine works that feature angels, having in earlier years only sporadically depicted them. His angels were not the celestial kind but hybrid creatures beset with human foibles and whims. Klee's angels are "forgetful, "still female, "ugly," incomplete," or "poor"—as the titles he gave these pictures indicate.

Suffering from an incurable illness and sensing himself hovering between life and death, Klee possibly felt a kinship with these outsiders. In this work, he covered a sheet of newspaper with black gouache on which he then drew the outlines of the figure and of the crescent moon with a thick, soft graphite pencil. Then he filled in these forms with a thin white wash. It is the black ground peeking through the white pigment that gives this creature its ghostly shimmer.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Angel Applicant
  • Artist: Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
  • Date: 1939
  • Medium: Opaque watercolor, brush and black ink, and graphite on paper mounted on board
  • Dimensions: 25 3/4 × 17 1/2 in. (65.4 × 44.5 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1984
  • Object Number: 1984.315.60
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Ass (Esel), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph
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Bird Comedy (Vogelkomödie), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph
Bird Comedy (Vogelkomödie)
Paul Klee
Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl
1918
The Bauhaus Portfolio: New European Graphics III
Paul Klee
1921
The Saint of the Inner Light (Die Helige vom inner Licht), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph with brown background
The Saint of the Inner Light (Die Helige vom inner Licht)
Paul Klee
1921
Hoffmannesque Scene (Hofmanneske Szene), Paul Klee German, born Switzerland, Lithograph in gold, maroon, brown and black
Hoffmannesque Scene (Hofmanneske Szene)
Paul Klee
1921

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