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Lot 135 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FRENCH COLLECTION
Paul Klee (1879-1940)
Gespenst der ersten Geliebten
Closed24 June 2010
Price Realised
GBP 253,250
More Information
Specialist note
Painted in 1924 at the height of Klee's involvement with the Bauhaus, Gespenst der Ersten Geliebeten, or 'Spectre of the First Lover', is a magical, light-hearted and fanciful portrait of the frightening and seemingly unexpected ghost-like apparition of an ex-lover.
Branded with the number '1' imprinted in black in the middle of her forehead as a way of indicating that she is the 'first' in an apparent sequence of lovers, this patchwork-faced female with her clumsily arranged features, mad frizzy hair, stern string of pearls and smart evening dress is a comic-horror figure seemingly arise from some dark recess of the artist's mind. Materializing like a genie against the misty watercolour gloom of the painting's background, this ghostly figure is a comic assemblage of disparate but distinct forms from her screw-shaped eyes and wire-like hair to the v-sign of her crotch and the taught wire progression of her necklace. Magically coalescing together to form a somewhat totemic image that bears a strong resemblance to the many extraordinary puppet-figures that Klee continuously assembled from household materials at this time for his son Felix's puppet-theatre, this memorable figure is a powerful and humorous graphic incarnation of a forsaken and somewhat disgruntled ex-lover.
Branded with the number '1' imprinted in black in the middle of her forehead as a way of indicating that she is the 'first' in an apparent sequence of lovers, this patchwork-faced female with her clumsily arranged features, mad frizzy hair, stern string of pearls and smart evening dress is a comic-horror figure seemingly arise from some dark recess of the artist's mind. Materializing like a genie against the misty watercolour gloom of the painting's background, this ghostly figure is a comic assemblage of disparate but distinct forms from her screw-shaped eyes and wire-like hair to the v-sign of her crotch and the taught wire progression of her necklace. Magically coalescing together to form a somewhat totemic image that bears a strong resemblance to the many extraordinary puppet-figures that Klee continuously assembled from household materials at this time for his son Felix's puppet-theatre, this memorable figure is a powerful and humorous graphic incarnation of a forsaken and somewhat disgruntled ex-lover.