Description
Angelus Novus is a small work on paper made by Paul Klee in 1920: an angel with wide-open eyes, an open mouth and raised, wing-like hands stands alone on a yellowish, mottled sheet. The original measures just 31.8 x 24.2 cm and belongs to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Our painter paints it for you by hand on canvas, in oil or acrylic, in 8 portrait sizes from 30 x 40 to 84 x 115 cm or made to measure, and we send you a photograph of your finished angel before dispatch.
| Title: | Angelus Novus |
| Other titles: | New Angel · Neuer Engel |
| Painter: | Paul Klee (1879–1940) |
| Year painted: | 1920 |
| Original size: | 31.8 cm x 24.2 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil transfer, ink and watercolour on paper |
| Painting style: | Modernism |
| Located at: | Israel Museum, Jerusalem |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Angelus Novus – Paul Klee
What does Angelus Novus show?
In the middle of the sheet stands an angel, looking straight out at us. He is drawn in fine brown lines that look slightly grainy in places, as if they had been printed rather than drawn with a pen. The head is large for the body, and above the forehead the hair curls into scrolls like rolled-up strips of paper.
The eyes are round and wide open, with brown pupils; the mouth hangs open so that the teeth show. The angel raises his hands at his sides, and the fingers fan out like feathers on a wing. Lower down the body narrows into a kind of skirt, from which two tiny feet with bird-like claws stick out.
The paper is pale and yellowish, full of stains, and darkens to brown towards the edges. Klee tinted the angel sparingly with light yellow and ochre, and a narrow orange band runs down the chest. At the lower right you can read the signature and the year 1920.
What does the angel mean?
The Latin title means new angel. The best-known reading of the work, however, comes not from Klee but from Walter Benjamin.
In his 1940 essay Theses on the Philosophy of History, Benjamin recognised in this figure the angel of history: eyes staring, mouth open, wings spread, face turned towards the past. What looks to us like a sequence of events appears to him as a single disaster that keeps heaping up ruins before his feet.
The angel would like to pause and mend what lies broken, but a storm blows from Paradise and has caught in his wings. It carries him without pause into the future, to which his back is turned, while the heap of debris in front of him rises towards the sky. Benjamin calls this storm progress.
Why is Angelus Novus so famous?
Its fame comes above all from the story of its owner. Benjamin bought it in 1921 and kept it with him even in exile; according to Scholem, he felt a mystical bond with the angel.
The name and idea of the new angel have also inspired filmmakers, writers and musicians, and in 1997 the German art historian Otto Karl Werckmeister counted it among the icons of the left.
Set beside other faces by Klee, such as the painting Senecio of 1922, it shows how few lines he needed to bring a face to life. The Wikipedia article on Angelus Novus, written in English, follows the sheet all the way from Benjamin to Jerusalem.
Where is the original, and how did it get there?
The original is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, accession number B87.0994. It is a small sheet of paper, 31.8 x 24.2 cm, on which Klee’s own oil transfer method meets India ink and watercolour.
Benjamin bought the sheet in 1921, and when he had to leave Germany in 1933 he took it with him into exile in Paris. Before he tried to flee further after the Nazis invaded France, he entrusted it to Georges Bataille, who hid it in the Bibliothèque nationale, where he worked.
Benjamin died in Spain in September 1940. After the war Bataille handed the sheet to Theodor W. Adorno in Frankfurt, who, following Benjamin’s last will, sent it on to his lifelong friend Gershom Scholem, a scholar of Jewish mysticism.
Angelus Novus or another Klee?
Angelus Novus is a canvas painting for people who prefer a quiet, almost single-coloured wall to a busy pattern.
If you want more colour, the famous Paul Klee paintings offer plenty of it. Klee used the same oil transfer method for Twittering Machine, in which open-beaked birds sit on a wire linked to a hand crank. The dark Fish Magic mixes creatures of water, sky and earth on an almost black ground, while Red Balloon is another small work from 1922.
Every Paul Klee reproduction our painters make to order is on our Paul Klee page.
How do we hand-paint Angelus Novus on canvas?
The original is not painted in oil on canvas but is a small sheet of paper with transferred lines, ink and watercolour. Ours is an oil painting reproduction made by hand, which the painter builds up on canvas layer by layer in oil or acrylic, in the size you choose, so that it hangs like any other painting.
First he prepares the ground in thin, translucent layers: the pale yellow centre, the brown stains and the darker edges that give the sheet its age. Only then does he draw the angel’s brown outlines with a fine brush, keeping the line slightly uneven, just as it is in the print.
Finally he adds the light yellow and ochre areas, the orange band on the chest and the brown pupils.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 30 x 40 or 36 x 48 cm for a shelf, a desk or a narrow wall beside a door, 40 x 55 and 48 x 60 cm for a hallway or bedroom, 55 x 70 and 60 x 81 cm above a chest of drawers or a smaller sofa, and 77 x 100 or 84 x 115 cm for the main wall of a lounge.
We paint the angel in 8 portrait sizes (width x height): 30 x 40, 36 x 48, 40 x 55, 48 x 60, 55 x 70, 60 x 81, 77 x 100 and 84 x 115 cm. The original sheet is only 24.2 x 31.8 cm (width x height), so even our smallest size is a little larger, and the largest is more than three times as tall.
As a painting for the living room it works best at 77 x 100 or 84 x 115 cm, where the curls, the teeth and the grainy lines read clearly.
Can I order another size or a frame?
Yes. If you need a different width or height, we leave the angel whole and adjust only the stained margin around him. Send us the size your wall needs and we will reply with a price and a delivery time.
Your angel travels rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing and packs each angel for the journey. You choose the moulding in our 3D app, which is for frame choice only; a view of the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
The warm, yellowed tones suit a slim moulding in light oak or a narrow dark brown frame.
When will my painting arrive?
The painter begins once you confirm your order, and your Angelus Novus is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Before packing, we send you a photograph of the finished painting and make any change you ask for.
Within Slovenia and the rest of the EU there are no customs duties, and our returns policy covers every angel we send.
The angel is a thoughtful gift for a reader of philosophy, a historian or friends moving into a new home. If you are unsure which size would fit their wall, give a wall art voucher instead.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
In the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, which keeps the sheet under accession number B87.0994.
Is this a print?
No. You receive a hand-painted copy on canvas, made with a brush by our painter in oil or acrylic.
How big is the original sheet?
31.8 x 24.2 cm (height x width), only a little larger than a sheet of A4.
Could the angel be painted in a size you do not list?
Yes. Give us the width and height, and we will send you a price and a date for your angel.
How long does it take to make?
15 to 45 working days; before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished angel.
Does it suit a bedroom, a living room or a gift?
Its gaze is strong, so many hang it in a living room, home office or hallway; as a gift it suits book and history lovers.
What does the angel in the painting stand for?
Walter Benjamin saw in it the angel of history, looking at the past while the storm of progress drives him into the future.
Who owned the sheet before the museum?
The philosopher Walter Benjamin, who bought it in 1921; after the war, by his wish, it passed to his friend Gershom Scholem.
- Subject: an angel with wide eyes, an open mouth and hands raised like wings stands alone on a yellowish, stained sheet.
- Original: oil transfer, ink and watercolour on paper, 1920, 31.8 x 24.2 cm, Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
- Ours: painted by hand in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 portrait sizes from 30 x 40 to 84 x 115 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: the sheet belonged to Walter Benjamin, who saw in it the angel of history.
