In the Magic Mirror

1934

Paul Klee
German, born Switzerland, 1879–1940

In the Magic Mirror reflects the disillusionment that colored much of Paul Klee’s work following the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933 and the artist’s subsequent move to his native Switzerland.
Illustrating what Klee called his method of “taking a line for a walk,” a meandering red line twists and turns down the center of the canvas, delineating the features of a face. The tight curves on the brow suggest the figure is concentrating, while the tension between the nose and mouth, which pull in opposite directions, conveys anxiety. In contrast to the cheerful pink cheeks, the figure’s tear-shaped eyes communicate distress. The thinly painted, ghostly outline of the head and shoulders is in contrast to the crisp rendering of the face. Klee paints the heart, the true creative center, black, thereby suggesting the pall that settled over this figure, and by extension, the artist at this time.

Status: On View, Ryerson Library Reading Room
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Paul Klee
Title: In the Magic Mirror
Place: Germany (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1934
Medium: Oil on canvas, on board
Inscriptions: none
Dimensions: 66 × 50 cm (26 × 19 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Bequest of Claire Zeisler
Reference Number: 1991.321
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Herbert Read, “Homage to Paul Klee: Klee: Imagination and Phantasy,” XXe Siècle (Paris: Chroniques du jour, Christmas 1938), vol. 1, no. 4, p. 32 (ill.).
Karl Nierendorf, ed., Paul Klee Paintings and Watercolors 1913–1939 (Oxford University Press, 1941), p. 30, pl. 46 (ill.).
Carola Giedion-Welcker, Paul Klee (Viking Press, 1952), p. 102 (ill.).Will Grohmann, Paul Klee, (Genève: Trois collines, 1954), p. 311.
Alan Artner, “Art Institute Inherits Five Surrealist Paintings,” Chicago Tribune (Friday, October 11, 1991), sec. 2, p. 3. (ill.).
Lori Rotenberk, “A Stellar Surrealist Gift,” Chicago Sun-Times, (Friday, October 11, 1991) p. 5 (ill.).
“Principales acquisitions des musées en 1991,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts (March 1992), vol. 79, no. 1478, pp. 78 (ill.), 79, cat. 274, as Dans le miroir magique.
James N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein, The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture (Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), p. 70 (ill.).P
Paul-Klee-Stiftung, Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné (Bern: Paul-Klee-Stiftung, 2003), vol. 7, p. 132 (ill.), cat. 6745, as Zauberspiegelbild, Reflection in the Magic Mirror.

Bern, Kunsthalle, Paul Klee, February 23–March 24, 1935, cat. 95.Basel, Kunsthalle, Paul Klee, October 27–November 24, 1935, cat. 81.
Lucerne, Kunstmuseum, Paul Klee, Fritz Huf, April 26–June 3, 1936, cat. 150.
New York, Nierendorf Galleries, Paul Klee. A Choice Collection of the Master’s Work, October 24–November 1938, cat. 5.
Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Florsheim, November 4–29, 1941, cat. 11, as Image in the Magic Mirror.Chicago, Renaissance Society, Paul Klee, June 5–24, 1946, cat. 2.
Chicago, Art Club, Surrealism Then and Now, October 1–30, 1958, cat. 28.
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, In the Mind’s Eye: Dada and Surrealism in Chicago Collection, December 1, 1984–January 27, 1985, p. 160.

Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Paris, probably acquired directly from the artist, until 1938 [Paul-Klee-Stiftung 2001, and verso label]. Karl Nierendorf, New York, 1938 [Paul-Klee-Stiftung 2001, and verso label]. Harold M. and Claire Florsheim, Highland Park, Ill., by 1941 to at least 1946 [Chicago 1941, and Chicago 1946]. Katherine Kuh Gallery, Chicago [according to telephone conversation between Katherine Kuh and Charles Stuckey in October 1991]. Dr. Ernest B. and Claire Zeisler (formerly Claire Florsheim), Chicago, by 1958 to 1991 [Chicago 1958]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1991.

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