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    Foto: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Das schamlose Tier, 1920,115

Paul Klee

Information

Artist

Paul Klee

1879
Münchenbuchsee bei Bern, Schweiz

1940
Locarno-Muralto, Schweiz

Work data

Material/Technique

Oil transfer drawing and watercolor on chalk ground on paper, mounted on cardboard

Dimensions

Image: 18.3 × 26 cm

Signature

Bez. a.d. Karton u.l.: "1920/115 Das schamlose Tier"

Accession Number

0007

Catalogue Raisonné

Cat. Rais. Nr. 2460

Acquisition year

1960

Provenance

The work “Das schamlose Tier” by Paul Klee remained the property of the artist from its creation in 1920 until 1925 at the latest. From 1925, it is documented as part of the collection of Otto Ralfs, who made it available for various exhibitions in 1930 and 1931. From 1938, Karl Nierendorf exhibited the work in the Nierendorf Galleries – renamed the Nierendorf Gallery in 1939 – in New York. Clifford Odets, who verifiably owned “Das schamlose Tier” from 1948 to 1950, gave the work to J. B. Neumann’s New Art Circle on consignment on various occasions. According to a label on the back of the picture with the note “Collection J. B. Neumann,” the work must have been owned by J. B. Neumann after 1950 before it came to the Curt Valentin Gallery in 1951 at the earliest. At an unknown date, G. David Thompson purchased it for his collection, where it remained until it was sold to the Galerie Beyeler in Basel in 1960. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia subsequently purchased the work “Das schamlose Tier” from Galerie Beyeler together with a further 87 works by Paul Klee. They formed the core of the collection of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, which was founded in 1961.

Between 2009 and 2012, several freelance provenance researchers examined the origins (provenance) of all works in the collection of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen as part of a comprehensive research project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation. The focus was on all works created before 1945. For the painting “Das schamlose Tier,” the ownership history during the National Socialist period (1933–1945) could not be fully clarified. For this reason, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen commissioned a more in-depth investigation into the history of this work in 2025.

If you have any questions or information regarding this work, please contact us:
Dr. Vivien Trommer
Head of Collection
trommer@kunstsammlung.de

Credit line

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf

Exhibitions
  • Paul Klee. Kleinode. Die Sammlung, 22.6.-25.8.2001, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
  • 100 x Paul Klee. Geschichte der Bilder, 28.9.2012-20.4.2013, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, K21 Ständehaus
  • Paul Klee! Meisterwerke aus der Kunstsammlung NRW, 20.3.-18.7.2015, Kunsthalle Emden
  • museum global: Prolog: Paul Klee. Eine Sammlung auf Reisen, 12.10.2018-9.3.2019, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (K20 Grabbeplatz, Kleehalle)
Tags
figure Modern Art animal
Service

If you have any questions or comments about works in the collection, please send us an e-mail to
service [​at​] kunstsammlung.de

For image requests and questions about image rights, please contact
vertrieb [​at​] kunstsammlung.de

Further literature on the works in the collection can be found in our special library for art of the 20th- and 21st-centuries:

Werner Schmalenbach Library

Online Catalog

Links

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https://sammlung.kunstsammlung.de/en/works/195

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