Tightrope Walker

This lithograph is one of Paul Klee’s many depictions of tightrope walkers, a subject that he saw as reflecting the balance and tension necessary to artistic creation. Against a field of pink, the figure occupies only a small portion of the sheet, much of which is filled with an abstracted landscape of winding stairs and paths. Klee employed a variety of lithographic techniques in the print—from the fine pen lines used to sketch the tightrope walker and his surroundings to the smooth gradient above and below him, making him appear as if spotlit.

A vertically oriented color lithograph depicts a simplified birdlike figure balancing atop a delicate structure of thin lines and triangles. The figure, wearing a small hat and holding a long horizontal pole, faces right against a muted pink background bisected by a faint, off-white cross. Below, a ladderlike form extends within a complex geometric base, while dark, grainy stippling provides a textured finish across the entire composition.

Tightrope Walker

1923

Paul Klee

(German, 1879–1940)

Germany, 20th century

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