Carnival in the Snow

1923

Paul Klee

(German, 1879–1940)

Culture

Germany, 20th century

Medium

watercolor

Support

Beige(1) laid paper laid down on beige(1) wove paper discolored to yellow-beige (artist's mount)

Measurements

Sheet: 24 x 23.5 cm (9 7/16 x 9 1/4 in.); Secondary Support: 34.5 x 29.3 cm (13 9/16 x 11 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1969.46

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Location

Not on view

Description

In this watercolor, acrobats and circus jugglers emerge from a complex pattern of shapes and colors. Two jugglers share a face and torso. A member of Der Blaue Reiter group in Munich, Paul Klee believed that the elements of color and shape alone could carry connotations of emotions, moods, and subjective feelings. His method was to begin painting without a subject, only settling upon something that could be recognized after layering colored form upon colored form.