Die Serie der »Selbstbildnisse« im Jahr 1919 von Paul Klee

In trying to define a new artistic orientation after the First World War, in May 1919, Klee worked in a more concentrated fashion than ever before on self-portraits. The ensuing series of self-portraits includes the well known Thinking Artist, Feeling Artist, Pondering Artist, Creating Artist and Absorption. In the present text, not only these works, which have been discussed in the Klee literature previously will be considered, but also the subsequently registerd works in Klees Œuvrelkatalog, Mask and Mister Sol and its verso image »self-portrait«, which can be regarded in an extended sense as allegories of the artist. Through a comparison of Absorption to Mister Sol, as well as the verso image »self-portrait«, it will be shown how Klee deepened the exploration of his self and how he visualized this. This analysis of the recto-verso picture Mister Sol throws a new light on the understanding of the series of self-portraits of 1919.