Watercolour and oil paint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paul-klee-1417" aria-label="More by Paul Klee" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Paul Klee</a>
Comedy
Purchased 1946
abstraction
adults
comedy
figure
figure
from recognisable sources
group
groups
leisure and pastimes
music and entertainment
people
paper unique watercolour oil paint
2 June 2004 – 12 September 2004
2004-09-12
13 May 2004 – 5 September 2004
2004-09-05
2004-05-13
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)
2004-06-02
L'action Restrainte
Loan-out
30 June 2007 – 6 January 2008
2008-01-06
30 June 2007 – 6 January 2008
2008-01-06
2007-06-30
Zentrum Paul Klee (Bern, Switzerland)
http://www.zpk.org
26 October 2008 – 1 February 2009
2009-02-01
2008-10-26
Museum der Moderne (Salzburg, Austria)
2007-06-30
Paul Klee and the Theatre
Loan-out
3 May 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
3 May 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
2012-05-03
Barbican Art Gallery (London, UK)
2012-05-03
Bauhaus: Art as Life
Loan-out
16 October 2013 – 9 March 2014
2014-03-09
14 October 2013 – 9 March 2014
2014-03-09
2013-10-14
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2013-10-16
The EY Exhibition - Paul Klee: Making Visible
Exhibition
10 October 2015 – 6 March 2016
2016-03-06
10 October 2015 – 6 March 2016
2016-03-06
2015-10-10
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Germany)
http://www.kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de
2015-10-10
I Got Rhythm: Art and Jazz since 1920
Loan-out
18 November 2016 – 12 March 2017
2017-03-12
18 November 2016 – 12 March 2017
2017-03-12
2016-11-18
Zentrum Paul Klee (Bern, Switzerland)
http://www.zpk.org
2016-11-18
Paul Klee and the Surrealists
Loan-out
30 July 2018 – 14 July 2019
2019-07-14
30 July 2018 – 14 July 2019
2019-07-14
2018-07-30
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2018-07-30
Magic Realism
Exhibition
Comedy
support: 305 × 454 mm
Frame: 572 × 685 × 20 mm
Purchased 1946
<p><b>Paul Klee</b><span> 1879-1940 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/klee-comedy-n05657" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05657</span></a> </span><b>Comedy</b><span>
1921 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'Klee' b.r.; '1921/108 Komödie' on mount; 'Privatbes. Sg.K.' and '28' on second mount</span>
<br/><span>Watercolour over oil-colour drawing on paper, 12 x 17 7/8 (30.5 x 45.5)</span>
<br/><span>Purchased from Frau Lily Klee (Knapping Fund) 1946</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Paul Klee: 2. Gesamtausstellung 1920-1925</i><span>, Hans Goltz, Munich, May-June 1925 (56); </span><i>Paul Klee</i><span>, Galerie Vavin-Raspail, Paris, October-November 1925 (14); </span><i>Gedächtnis Ausstellung: Paul Klee</i><span>, Kunsthalle, Basle, February-March 1941 (167); </span><i>Paul Klee 1879-1940</i><span>, National Gallery, London, December 1945-February 1946 (52); </span><i>Paul Klee 1879-1940</i><span>, Arts Council touring exhibition, 1946 (16, repr.)</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
Will Grohmann, </span><i>Paul Klee</i><span> (Paris 1929), pl.18 (stated, apparently incorrectly, to be in the Museum of Living Art (coll. Gallatin), New York); </span><i>Der Querschnitt</i><span>, X, April 1930, n.p., as 'Musikalische Komödie'; </span><i>Cahiers d'Art</i><span>, 1945-6, p.38 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>According to Will Grohmann, 'Comedy' stems from the parties and little theatrical performances which were a regular feature of student life at the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/b/bauhaus" title="Glossary definition for 'Bauhaus'"><span>Bauhaus</span></a> and in which burlesque and mechanical elements played a major part. Klee took great delight in these and used to make humorous allusions to them in his speech (letter of 14 June 1953). </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Klee's oeuvre catalogue gives the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>media</span></a> of this work as 'Aquarell und Oelfarbe' and lists under 1921/109 a preliminary pen <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a>, 'Zeichnung zu 21/108', which would have been used to make the oil-colour drawing. This study does not seem to have been photographed and its present location is unknown. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.387, reproduced p.387</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-21T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction adults comedy figure figure from recognisable sources group groups leisure and pastimes music and entertainment people