Paul Klee was an artist and teacher at the Bauhaus for most of that famed school\u2019s existence. Initially head of the bookbinding department, Klee made his greatest contribution as a lecturer on the theory of form in art for the basic design course. There, he developed his ideas about the \u201cpolyphony\u201d of painting\u2014the simultaneous effect of formal elements that produces \u201ca transformed beholder of art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Klee was also a trained musician and shared with many artists of the early twentieth century the idea that music was the key to producing a new, abstract art. He was interested in the temporal character of music and its possible translation into forms of art. Works like Sunset<\/em> reflect the principles of rhythm: linear structures, forms, and tonal values are orchestrated into a measured, vibrating image. To produce such a harmonious effect, Klee layered an intricate pattern of dots over a neutral background. Abstract, geometric, and overlapping shapes balance with recognizable forms, such as the schematic face in the upper left and the red sun and arrow in the lower right. The resulting composition\u2014balancing stillness and movement, shallowness and depth\u2014relates to Klee\u2019s larger project of looking to music to produce an art that \u201cdoes not reproduce the visible, but makes visible.\u201d<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"46.1 \u00d7 70.5 cm (18 1\/8 \u00d7 27 3\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":70,"height":46,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Signed, l.l.: \"Klee\"","credit_line":"Gift of Mary and Leigh Block","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Kunsthalle Bern, Paul Klee, exh. cat. (Bern: Kunsthalle Bern, 1935), 5, cat. 49 (not ill.), as Sonnenuntergang E9. \n\nKunsthalle Bern, Paul Klee: Ausstellung in Verbindung mit der Paul-Klee Stiftung, exh. cat. (Bern: Kunsthalle Bern, 1956), 118, cat. 756 (not ill.), as Sonnen untergang.\n\nHamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Paul Klee, exh. cat. (Hamburg: Kunstverein in Hamburg, 1956), 27, cat. 264 (not ill.), as Sonnen untergang.\n\nMarlborough Fine Arts, Painters of the Bauhaus, exh. cat. (London: Marlborough Fine Arts, 1962), 63, cat. 138 (ill.), as Sunset, Sonnenuntergang. \n\nMarlborough Fine Arts, Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, exh. cat. (London: Marlborough Fine Arts, 1962), n.p., cat. 24 (ill.), as Sunset.\n\nMarlborough-Gerson Gallery, Artist and Maecenas: A Tribute to Curt Valentin, exh. cat. (New York: Marlborough-Gerson, 1963), 19, cat. 277 (ill.), as Sunset. \n\nNational Gallery of Art, 100 European Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1967), n.p., cat. 35 (ill.).\n\nWill Grohmann, Paul Klee (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1954), 284 (ill.), 401, 417, no. 302, cat. 133, as Sunset, Sonnenuntergang.\n\nWill Grohmann, Paul Klee, trans. Jean Descoullayes and Jean Philippon (Geneva: Trois collines, 1954), 276, 401 (ill.), 419, no. 302, cat. 133, as Sunset, Sonnenuntergang, Coucher de soleil. \n\nJ\u00fcrg Spiller, Paul Klee. Das bildnerische Denken. Schriften zur Form- und Gestaltungslehre (Basel: B. Schwabe, 1956), 75 (not ill.), as Sonnenuntergang.\n\nMax Huggler, \u201cPaul Klee,\u201d in K\u00fcnstler-Lexicon der Schweiz: XX. Jahrhundert (Frauenfeld, Switzerland: Huber, 1958), vol. 1, 527 (not ill.), as Sonnenuntergang. \n\nRichard Verdi, \u201cMusical Influences on the Art of Paul Klee,\u201dArt Institute of Chicago Museum Studies Vol. 3 (1968), 98, fig. 16 (ill.), 99-100.\n\nMax Huggler, Paul Klee: Die Malerei als Blick in den Kosmos (Frauenfeld, Switzerland: Huber, 1969), 123 (not ill.).\n\nChristian Geelhaar, Paul Klee und das Bauhaus (Cologne: DuMont Schauberg, 1972), 140 (not ill.).\n\nRichard Verdi, \u201cPaul Klee\u2019s \u2018Fish Magic:\u2019 An Interpretation,\u201d Burlington Magazine Vol. 116, no. 852 (March 1974), 150, fig. 30 (ill.), 151.\n\nRichard Verdi, Klee and Nature (London: A. Zwemmer, 1984), xv, 173 (ill.), 174, fig. 163.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1980\u201381 (1981), 10 (ill.), 26, 64.\n\nLarry Silver, Art in History (New York: Abbeville Press, 1993), 400, fig. 9.46 (ill.). \n\nGottfried Boehm, Ulrich Mosch, and Katharina Schmidt, eds., Canto d\u2019Amore: Klassizistische Moderne in Musik und bildender Kunst 1914\u20131935, exh. cat. (Kunstmuseum Basel, 1996), 347, fig. 3 (ill.). \n\nPaul-Klee-Stiftung, Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonn\u00e9 (Bern: Die Stiftung, 2000), vol. 5, 506 (ill.), cat. 5327, as Sonnenuntergang, Sunset.\n\nJosef Helfenstein and Elizabeth Hutton Turner, eds., Klee and America, exh. cat. (Houston: The Menil Collection and Hatje Cantz, 2006), 189, cat. 72 (color ill.), as Sonnenuntergang [Sunset]. \n\nEmmanuel Di Donna, ed., Enchanted Reverie: Klee and Calder, exh. cat. (New York: Di Donna Galleries, 2024), cover ill. (detail), 62-63 (color ill.), 140.","exhibition_history":"Kunsthalle Bern, Paul Klee, February 23\u2013March 24, 1935, cat. 49.\n\nKunsthalle Bern, Paul Klee: Ausstellung in Verbindung mit der Paul-Klee Stiftung, Aug. 11\u2013Nov. 4, 1956, 118, cat. 756 (not ill.), as Sonnen untergang.\n\nHamburg, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Paul Klee, Dec. 2, 1956\u2013Jan. 27, 1957, cat. 264.\n\nLondon, Marlborough Fine Arts, Painters of the Bauhaus, Mar.\u2013Apr. 1962, cat. 138.\n\nLondon, Marlborough Fine Arts, Aspects of Twentieth Century Art, July-Aug. 1962, cat. 24.\n\nNew York, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, Artist and Maecenas: A Tribute to Curt Valentin, Nov.\u2013Dec. 1963, cat. 277.\n\nWashington, D.C., National Gallery, 100 European Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, May 4\u2013June 11, 1967, cat. 35; Los Angeles, City Museum of Art, Sept. 21\u2013Nov. 2, 1967, and Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, February 2\u2013April 14, 1968, cat. 36.\n\nHuston, The Menil Collection, Klee and America, June 16-September 10, 2006, Washington DC, The Phillips Collection, Oct. 6, 2006- Jan. 14, 2007, cat. 72.\n\nNew York, Di Donna Gallery, Enchanted Reverie: Klee and Calder, Apr. 19, 2024-June 8, 2024 (preview date Apr. 18), no cat. no.","provenance_text":"The artist, Dessau and later Bern; given to Will Grohmann (1887\u20131968), Dresden and Berlin, Dec. 1934\u2013Apr. 1935 [Klee-Grohmann Correspondence, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Archiv Grohmann, Box 105, copies in curatorial object file]; sold to Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London, 1962 [this and the following according to correspondence from Karin von Maur, Dec. 13, 1999, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Mary Block (1904\u20131981) and Leigh B. Block (1905\u20131987), Chicago, 1964; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1981.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":246,"fiscal_year":1981,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":false,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":1280,"copyright_notice":"\u00a9 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York \/ VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn","has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":35.663,"color":{"h":8,"l":50,"s":61,"percentage":0.047578757914543385,"population":221},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Modern Art","department_id":"PC-11","artist_id":35282,"artist_title":"Paul Klee","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[35282],"artist_titles":["Paul Klee"],"category_ids":["PC-11","PC-831"],"category_titles":["Modern Art","Essentials"],"term_titles":["oil on canvas","oil paint (paint)","oil painting","suns","Modernism","painting","modern and contemporary art","canvas","painting (image making)","landscapes","orange (color)","blue (color)","red (color)","gold (color)","dots","geometric","sky","eyes","faces"],"style_id":"TM-5981","style_title":"Modernism","alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":["TM-5981"],"style_titles":["Modernism"],"classification_id":"TM-66","classification_title":"oil on canvas","alt_classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-155"],"classification_ids":["TM-66","TM-9","TM-155"],"classification_titles":["oil on canvas","painting","modern and contemporary art"],"subject_id":"TM-11486","alt_subject_ids":["TM-8657","TM-11905","TM-11843","TM-11851","TM-11859","TM-12598","TM-9124","TM-12468","TM-12103","TM-12104"],"subject_ids":["TM-11486","TM-8657","TM-11905","TM-11843","TM-11851","TM-11859","TM-12598","TM-9124","TM-12468","TM-12103","TM-12104"],"subject_titles":["suns","landscapes","orange (color)","blue (color)","red (color)","gold (color)","dots","geometric","sky","eyes","faces"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"92da7102-0562-f4da-55f9-1d29828b20d7","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Sunset","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1981.13"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Sunset"],"weight":10241,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2025-12-05T17:30:02-06:00","updated_at":"2026-09-25T13:08:13-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-28T08:23:53-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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