atmosphaerische Gruppe in Bewegung - Kunstsammlung NRW / Online-Sammlung

Back

gemeinfrei
Foto: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Information

Artist

Paul Klee

1879
Münchenbuchsee bei Bern, Schweiz

1940
Locarno-Muralto, Schweiz

Work data

Material/Technique

Watercolor and ink on paper, mounted on cardboard

Dimensions

Sheet: 23 × 30.6 cm
Frame: 58.8 × 78.8 × 3 cm

Signature

Bez. u.l.: "Klee", a.d. Karton u.M.: "1929. OE.6 atmosphaerische Gruppe in Bewegung"

Accession Number

0021

Catalogue Raisonné

Cat. Rais. Nr. 5032

Acquisition year

1960

Provenance

From its creation in 1929 until at least 1938, the work “atmosphaerische Gruppe in Bewegung” by Paul Klee remained the property of the artist, who gave it to the Galerie Alfred Flechtheim on consignment in the spring of 1930. On October 24, 1933, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler concluded an exclusive contract with Paul Klee. He subsequently took over Galerie Flechtheim’s consigned works, which arrived in Paris in January 1934. The work can be traced to Kahnweiler, owner of Galerie Simon, until 1938, when he sent it to Amsterdam. There, in September 1940, it was verifiably in the possession of the art dealer Herbert Tannenbaum, who emigrated from Mannheim to Amsterdam in 1937. It is unclear whether Tannenbaum purchased the work from Kahnweiler or took it on consignment, as is the period during which he held the work. 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 “atmosphaerische Gruppe in Bewegung” 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 “atmosphaerische Gruppe in Bewegung,” 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

Unser 20. Jahrhundert - Meisterwerke von Picasso bis Beuys, 14.7.-28.10.2000, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Paul Klee. Kleinode. Die Sammlung, 22.6.-25.8.2001, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Paul Klee, 18.6.-14.11.2003, Museo de Arte Abstracto Espanol de Cuenca
Paul Klee. Erzählung und Schöpfung, 23.6.-9.12.2006, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakura/Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo/The Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai
100 x Paul Klee. Geschichte der Bilder, 28.9.2012-20.4.2013, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, K21 Ständehaus
Alfred Flechtheim.com - Kunsthändler der Avantgarde, 8.10.2013-11.1.2014, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, K20 Grabbeplatz
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)