Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds

By Mason Klein, Senior Curator at The Jewish Museum

Celebrated for his colorful, fantastical paintings, Paul Klee (1879–1940), a pioneer of modernism and expressionism, is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Though he is remembered for the chromatic style of his most famous works, Klee’s late work reflects a dark and dramatic transformation, providing insight into the artist’s psychological landscape.

Forced to flee Nazi persecution in 1933, Klee faced final years that were marked by exile, illness, and political upheaval. Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds takes the unsettling last decade of Klee’s life as its subject, arguing that he accepted his vulnerability as a strength—one that enabled him to develop a personal rebuff of fascism through a lexicon of abstraction. With 120 illustrations highlighting works from throughout Klee’s career, this catalog traces the evolution of his artistic practice and frames his late work in the context of his oeuvre. Essays by leading scholars and curators reexamine Klee’s legacy and the importance of his late masterpieces as an artistic defiance against oppression.

This books complements the exhibition Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds on view at the Jewish Museum March 20 to July 26, 2026.

Hardcover
176 pages with 125 color illustrations