"It is not my task to reproduce appearances....for that there is the photographic

plate."

"I want to penetrate to the inmost meaning of the model."

"I want to reach the heart."

"I write words on the foreheads and round the lips. But my faces are truer than life."

"Art does not reproduce the visible it renders it visible."

"In this way we learn to look beyond the surface and get to the roots of things." Paul Klee (Klay)

Paul Klee came from a musical family and lived a musical life. He was born in Switzerland to a German father who was a church organist. Klee was a trained violinist and studied music in Germany and considered himself German. Klee's wife was a piano teacher. Because he didn't have an art studio, he painted at his kitchen table. His drawings,etchings, and watercolors were small due to the size of his little kitchen table.

Klee was deeply interested in the art of children and tried to capture the creativity of children's art in his own paintings. Klee felt children's art held mysteries about creativity. Like some children, he often drew with a scratchy line and soft tones, often working on paper no bigger than a sheet of notebook paper. He often combined colorful paintings with live drawings, sometimes incorporating hieroglyphics in his art. Klee's paintings and drawings combine folk art, abstract art, and humor.