Minneapolis Institute of Art

Animals in an Enclosure

Paul Klee

Date

1938

Medium

Brush and black and red-brown gouache on paper

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Animals in Enclosure was created during Klee's exile in Switzerland after he was stripped of his professorship at the Düsseldorf Academy by the Nazis in 1933. It employs a labyrinth of aggressive shapes such as bars, arches, forks and arcs to create an imaginary enclosure for several hieroglyphic beasts. The relationship to prehistoric cave paintings and rock sculptures gives this work a sense of mystery and reveals most directly the influence of archaic forms on Klee's art. Europe

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