3235 - PAUL KLEE

PAUL KLEE (Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto) Small Garden Corner. 1931. Oil and wax colors on paper mounted on artist's board. Signed upper right: Klee. Dated, inscribed, and titled lower center on the artist’s board: 1931. W12. kl. Gartenecke. 16.5 × 14 cm. Provenance: - Rudolf Probst, Galerie Neue Kunst Fides/Das Kunsthaus, Dresden/Mannheim, 1932/33. - Lily Klee Collection, Bern, 1940–45. - Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne, 1945/46. - Curt Valentin, Buchholz Gallery/Valentin Gallery, Berlin/New York, from 1946. - Clifford Odets, New York, until 1954. - Saidenberg Gallery, New York, from 1954 (label on the reverse). - Galerie Georges Moos, Geneva. - Private collection, Switzerland, inherited from the above and retained by the same family for three generations. - Koller Zurich auction, December 3, 2021, lot 3229. - Swiss collection, acquired at the above auction. Exhibited: - Lucerne 1945, “In Memory of Paul Klee,” Galerie Rosengart, July 15–September 15, 1945, no. 26. - New York 1954, “Paul Klee: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of His Birth,” Saidenberg Gallery, March 8–April 26, 1954, no. 24. - Geneva 1973, “Art of the 20th Century.” Geneva Collections, Musée Rath and Cabinet des Estampes, June 28–September 23, 1973, no. 73 (label on the reverse). Bibliography: Paul Klee Foundation and Kunstmuseum Bern (eds.): Catalogue Raisonné Paul Klee, vol. VI, Bern 2000, p. 148, no. 5657 (ill.). Alongside landscapes, nature and the plant world are central themes in Paul Klee’s art, running like a thread through his work from his earliest creations to his final years. “Kleine Gartenecke,” painted in 1931, is distinguished by its thick, paste-like application of color, which lends the work a painterly character. Through Curt Valentin, one of Klee’s most important American dealers, the work reached the United States in the 1940s. Almost ten years later, it returned to Switzerland through the Geneva gallery owner Georges Moos. * The full tax is charged on this item marked *; that is, VAT is charged on the total amount and will be refunded to purchasers who provide a validly stamped export declaration.