The Saint of the Inner Light (Die Heilige vom inneren Licht)
Paul Klee
European Art
The title of this print by Paul Klee signals the work’s spiritual theme, while the figure’s high brow and sloping shoulders recall depictions of saints by Northern Renaissance artists. Klee portrays his saint with eyes closed, fixed on inner rather than external realities.
In the 1930s the Nazis declared Klee “degenerate,” and his work was included in their infamous 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition, which promised audiences “Nature as seen by sick minds.” Klee was interested in the art of children and the mentally ill, believing their creations were free and unmediated. To underscore that his art was “insane childish scrawling,” the Nazis juxtaposed a photograph of The Saint of Inner Life with the work of a mental patient in the Degenerate Art exhibition guide.
MEDIUM
Color lithograph on wove paper board
DATES
1921
DIMENSIONS
Sheet: 15 1/4 x 10 3/8 in. (38.7 x 26.4 cm)
Image: 12 3/8 x 6 7/8 in. (31.4 x 17.5 cm)
MARKINGS
Verso lower center: "BROOKLYN MUSEUM/BROOKLYN, N.Y." in rectangle (Lugt 307b)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower center of composition in pencil: "1921/22 Klee"
INSCRIPTIONS
Bottom center on composition in graphite: "1921/122 Klee"
Verso lower center in graphite: "37.596"
ACCESSION NUMBER
37.596
CREDIT LINE
A. Augustus Healy Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
STATE
IIc
RECORD COMPLETENESS
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