Klee & Kandinsky: Friends, but also rivals

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Wassily Kandinsky: In Blue, 1925 80 x 110 cm Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf ZPK

Paul Klee: Fruits on Red 1930, 263 Watercolour on silk, 61.2 x 46.2 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, on permanent loan from Bayrischen Landesbank ZPK

Wassily Kandinsky: Contrasting Sounds, 1924 Oil on panel, 70 x 49.5 cm Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d'art moderne / Centre de création industrielle ZPK

Wassily Kandinsky: Impression III (Concert), 1911 Oil on canvas 77.5 x 100 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich ZPK

Paul Klee: Architecture of the Plain, 1923, 113 Watercolour and pencil on paper, 28 x 17.3/18.1 Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Museum Berggruen ABMT, Uni Basel, 2005

Wassily Kandinsky: Flood improvisation, 1913 Oil on canvas, 95.2 x 150 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich ZOK

Paul Klee: Conqueror, 1930, 129 Watercolour and pen on cotton and panel, 40.5 x 34.2 cm Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern ABMT, Uni Basel, 2005

Paul Klee: Föhn Wind in Franz Marc's Garden, 1915, 102 Watercolour on paper and panel, 20 x 15 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich ZPK

Wassily Kandinsky: Around the Circle, 1940 Mixed media on canvas, 96.8 x 146 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection Kristopher McKay

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Their names are now synonymous with “classical modernism” in art: Paul Klee (1879-1940) and Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) were avant-garde and pioneers of abstract art. Now the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern is exhibiting a unique selection of works of the two masters. 

Klee and Kandinsky first met in 1911 as neighbours in the northern Munich borough of Schwabing. In 1922, their paths crossed again at the famous Bauhaus art school in Weimar. In 1925, they moved to Dessau where the Bauhaus school was relocated. There they lived next door to the newly built houses designed by the modernist architect Walter Gropius, who was also one of the founders of the Bauhaus school. 

In 1933, they were separated by the events of contemporary history: When the National Socialists seized power in Germany Kandinsky emigrated to Paris while Klee returned to his native Switzerland. 

“Their relationship was shaped by mutual inspiration and support, but also by rivalry and competition – a combination that spurred both of them on in their artistic work,” writes the Zentrum Paul Klee. 

The exhibition is a collaboration of the Zentrum Paul Klee with the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus Munich, where it will be presented from October 21. In Bern, the exhibition is open until 27 September.

(Text: Andreas Keiser, swissinfo.ch)