Description
Actor’s Mask is a painting by Paul Klee from 1924: a large, rounded face in soft green is covered in fine, wavy red-orange lines, and the closed eyes and the mouth are just bundles of those lines drawn together. The original is a small oil on canvas mounted on cardboard, only 36.7 x 33.8 cm, and it belongs to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Our painter paints it for you by hand on canvas, in oil or acrylic, in 8 nearly square sizes from 40 x 43 to 145 x 160 cm or made to measure. Before we pack the mask, we send you a photograph of it.
| Title: | Actor’s Mask |
| Other titles: | Schauspielermaske (German title) · Maschera d’attore (Italian title) |
| Painter: | Paul Klee (1879–1940) |
| Year painted: | 1924 |
| Original size: | 36.7 cm x 33.8 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard |
| Painting style: | Modernism |
| Located at: | The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Actor’s Mask – Paul Klee
What does Actor’s Mask show?
A single head stands in the middle of a dark, slate-grey ground. The face is egg-shaped and painted a soft mint green, and fine wavy lines in red-orange run across all of it, like the growth rings of a sawn trunk or the contour lines on a map.
Klee painted no pupils and no lips. The closed eyes are two long bundles of lines that meet at a single point above the nose, and the mouth is another such bundle, pressed into a horizontal slit. Yellow-green bands glow between the lines, so the face looks carved from wood.
Red hair of countless brushstrokes spreads around the head. A pointed red cap rises above it, and beneath the face a neck or collar of pink, olive and green stripes opens out like a cone. At the top left Klee wrote, small, the year 1924, a work number and his name.
What does the title tell us?
The title is the main clue: this is not a portrait of a particular person but a mask of the kind an actor wears on stage. What exactly Klee meant by it remains open; the painting shows a face that keeps its feelings behind closed eyes.
The stage was no stranger to Klee. As a young man in Bern he played the violin in an orchestra and wrote concert and theatre reviews. English Wikipedia also records that between 1916 and 1925 he made 50 hand puppets for his son Felix; they were private toys, so he left them out of his catalogue of works, yet he dealt with puppet shows in his artistic work at the Bauhaus too.
Thirty surviving puppets are kept today at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern. Actor’s Mask dates from 1924, when Klee was still making them.
Why does this face hold your gaze?
First, the colour. The cool green of the face glows against the red hair and cap, and the dark grey ground strengthens both.
Klee was a Swiss-born German artist who had played the violin since childhood. The poet Rilke wrote that his drawings seemed like transcriptions of music, and the lines of this mask really do flow in an even beat, as if someone had played them.
For more on the painter, see the Wikipedia article on Paul Klee; it is in English and is about the artist, not specifically about this painting.
Where is the original, and how small is it?
The original belongs to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, accession number 616.1967. Klee painted it in 1924, while teaching at the Bauhaus, where he worked from January 1921 to April 1931, from 1922 alongside Wassily Kandinsky.
The work is small, 36.7 x 33.8 cm (height x width), painted in oil on canvas mounted on cardboard.
Four years older is Redgreen and Violet-Yellow Rhythms, oil and ink on cardboard from 1920, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where the colours form a dense field of soft rectangles.
Actor’s Mask or another Klee?
Actor’s Mask is a canvas painting for anyone who likes a face with character but without fuss. The dark ground gives it gravity, so it sits well in a library, a home office or a dining room.
If Klee’s masks appeal to you, look at Mask of Fear from 1932 as well: a large, pale beige mask standing on four pairs of thin legs. If you prefer colour without a face, try Castle Garden from 1931, where towers rise out of small dabs of colour, or Equals Infinity, scattered with dots around the sign for infinity.
Browse the other famous Paul Klee paintings our painters make to order on our Paul Klee page and compare them with the mask.
How do we hand-paint Actor’s Mask?
Klee’s original is a small oil on canvas mounted on cardboard, under 37 cm tall. Ours is a Paul Klee reproduction on fresh canvas: the painter works in oil or acrylic, at the size you choose and layer by layer, so on the wall it reads as real painting, not as a print. Because the original is itself an oil, an oil painting reproduction catches its soft, slightly matt surface well.
He first sets down the outlines of the face, the cap and the neck, then the grey ground and the green field of the face. He draws the wavy red lines one by one with a fine brush, since at the eyes and mouth they must gather into bundles without running together.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 40 x 43 or 45 x 50 cm for a shelf or a narrow wall, 59 x 65 and 68 x 75 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, 85 x 95 and 98 x 104 cm above a sofa, and 125 x 140 or 145 x 160 cm for a large empty wall.
We paint Actor’s Mask in 8 nearly square, slightly upright sizes (width x height): 40 x 43, 45 x 50, 59 x 65, 68 x 75, 85 x 95, 98 x 104, 125 x 140 and 145 x 160 cm. The original measures 33.8 x 36.7 cm (width x height), so every one of our sizes enlarges the small work; at 145 x 160 cm the face is more than four times as wide as it is in New York.
As a painting for the living room it looks best at 98 x 104 or 125 x 140 cm above the sofa, where the dark ground calms a pale wall and the red warms it.
Can I order a custom size or a frame?
Yes. If you need other proportions, we keep the head, cap and neck whole and lengthen or shorten only the grey ground. Send us your custom size and we will tell you the price and timing for the mask in that format.
Rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed and ready to hang: you choose how the mask travels. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing and prepares each painting for whichever of these three ways it travels. The moulding is picked in our 3D app, which serves only that purpose; viewing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When and how does the painting arrive?
Once you confirm the order, the painter starts work, and Actor’s Mask is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Even before packing we send you a photograph of the finished painting; if you would like something changed, we change it.
Parcels within Slovenia and the EU pay no customs duties, and Actor’s Mask is covered by our returns policy like every order.
The mask with closed eyes makes a fitting present for a theatre lover, an actor or anyone who enjoys modern art. Unsure about their wall? Give them a wall art voucher and let them choose.
Frequently asked questions
Which museum has the original?
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where it carries accession number 616.1967.
What is painted in the picture?
A green face woven with wavy red lines, with closed eyes, red hair, a pointed cap and a striped neck against a grey ground.
Will I get a print?
No. Your mask is a hand-painted copy, worked by our painter with brushes on canvas, in oil or acrylic.
How large is the original?
It measures 36.7 x 33.8 cm (height x width); our sizes go up to 145 x 160 cm.
Do you paint Actor’s Mask in other sizes too?
Certainly; give us the width and height, and we will quote the mask in that size with a price and a date.
How quickly is the painting made?
Within 15 to 45 working days; before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work.
Is the mask right for a bedroom, or as a gift?
Yes. The calm face with closed eyes feels restful, and as a present it delights lovers of theatre and modern art.
Why are the mask’s eyes closed?
We know of no explanation; the eyes and the mouth are just bundles of lines, which makes the face look reserved and mysterious.
- Subject: a green mask-face with wavy red lines, closed eyes, red hair, a pointed cap and a striped neck on a grey ground.
- Original: oil on canvas mounted on cardboard, 1924, 36.7 x 33.8 cm, MoMA, New York.
- Ours: painted by hand in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes from 40 x 43 to 145 x 160 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: Klee painted it during his Bauhaus years, while he was still making hand puppets for his son Felix.
