Paul Klee is hard to classify. His works are instantly recognizable and belong in a category of their own. They are abstract, expressionist, Bauhaus, cubist, surrealist but when trying to describe his work one ends up grasping for something more. His work does not fit into any box of art history but rather it seems to be a natural extension of himself.

When stumbling upon his works in museums, the word childlike is sure to appear on many lips. This quality is quite whimsical, romantic and even a bit humorous. It makes it hard to not instantly love Klee.

In his early years, Klee struggled with art-school. Color was the hurdle. He seemed to lack a natural sense of using color, but he continued with art. Klee was also a gifted musician but felt that he had something to add to abstract art not music. It was this element of avant garde in art that excited him, he did not sense this in music.

It was when Klee met famed artist, Kandinsky that he began to open up to the possibilities with color. This turning point reach it's clarity when he quipped “Color has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it, I know that it has hold of me forever. That is the significance of this blessed moment. Color and I are one. I am a painter.”

When World War 1 began, Klee seemed detached. As the war went on, and Klee himself contracted a disease that would lead to a long, slowly wasting death (ironically, somewhat mirroring the war) his work turned away from the bright and to topics of death. The work of this time was marked my thick black lines that seemed to trap his figures and colors.

Klee may have left this world, but he left the world with a legacy, his art. One of Klee's paintings, Angelus Novus, was studied by philosopher Walter Benjamin. In his "Theses on the Philosophy of History," Benjamin remarks that the angel depicted in the painting might be seen as representing progress in history. Klee's work remains fresh and contemporary looking even today.

A replica of a Klee work can add life and light to any space. But, just as Klee would have wanted be sure to pay careful attention to the use of color when hanging.

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