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The Diary Drawings of Paul Klee
Color possesses me. I don’t have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it. That is the meaning of this happy hour: Color and I are one. I am a painter.
In 1898 when the artist Paul Klee was 19, he began keeping a diary. Across four notebooks, and spanning two decades, he wrote, drew and painted through his formative years.
He wrote about his travels, childhood, God, crushes, his life plans, his fraught relationship with music, aging, the “muse” and so much more.
After his death, his son Felix Klee edited and published Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918 in German in 1957. It was later translated into English and published in America in 1964.
Below are the diary drawings that struck me most, as well as access to all four of his notebooks.
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