Blue Night

Paul Klee made Blue Night in 1937 after the Nazis forced him to leave Germany and return to Switzerland. They had removed him from his teaching job in 1933 because they opposed his modern art. In 1937, they also displayed his work in an exhibition meant to attack artists they disliked. Klee continued to experiment in Switzerland even as his health became worse. For this work, he used pastel on layers of cotton, paint, and rough jute fabric. Kunstmuseum Basel bought the painting in 1941, one year after Klee's death.