Kosmos Klee. The collection | The Zentrum Paul Klee

Kosmos Klee. The collection

from 7 October 2023

The Zentrum Paul Klee dares to make a strategic shift of direction. With Kosmos Klee. The collection, it devotes a new kind of presentation to Paul Klee’s life, work and thought. Visitors are invited to discover a dynamic permanent exhibition on Klee, enriched by focused thematic references. The newly conceived gallery opens on 7 October 2023.

Paul Klee (1879 − 1940). Cunctator, 1938, 61
Coloured paste on paper on cardboard. 53,5 x 35 cm
Zentrum Paul Klee, B

Paul Klee. Centrifugal Forces, 1929, 267
Watercolour on paper on cardboard. 24,5 x 23,5 cm
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern

Paul Klee. Angel, Still Female, 1939, 1016
Chalk on primed paper on cardboard. 41,7 x 29,4 cm
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern

After some sixty thematic exhibitions from the collection the Zentrum Paul Klee is holding a permanent Paul Klee exhibition. It offers visitors an overview as well as diverse and changing glimpses of Klee’s life and work. A rotating selection of works from the collection shows the chronological development of Paul Klee’s artistic work. This comprehensive exhibition contains around seventy works, some of them well known works like Unstable Signpost from 1937. The exhibition also presents discoveries from the research archive. Films, audio stations and digital material invite visitors to engage with Klee’s work.

Part of the gallery is reserved for the room called FOKUS, a space of around 100 m₂. FOKUS contains alternating mini-exhibitions. They focus on thematic aspects in Klee’s work or on works by artists who show a direct or indeed an unexpected reference to Klee’s work. The first FOKUS is devoted to Klee’s famous ‘Angel’ series.

The collection and the archive
The Zentrum Paul Klee is the most authoritative research centre worldwide on the artist’s life and work. With over 4,000 works it also houses the largest collection of Paul Klee’s work, as well as the artist’s archive. This includes photographs, letters, his library and his collection of natural objects and records besides other items. Over 80% of the collection consists of works on pa-per, in accordance with the complete work of Paul Klee, who had a love of this easily manageable and variously customisable material. Since works on paper, unlike oil paintings, cannot be exhibited without restrictions because of their sensitivity to light, these works are regularly alternated. With Kosmos Klee. The collection Klee’s life and work is permanently available for visitors to experience, and at the same time to discover from different perspectives.

Opening
The opening of the exhibition will take place on Friday, 6 October 2023, from 6 pm. Admission to the exhibition is free on this evening. The speakers will be Nina Zimmer, director Kunstmuseum Bern – Zentrum Paul Klee, and Fabienne Eggelhöfer, head curator Zentrum Paul Klee.

Curator
Fabienne Eggelhöfer
Assistant Curator
Henna Keski-Mäenpää

With the support of
Kanton Bern, Federal Office of Culture, Burgergemeinde Bern