Description
Deep Pathos is a painting by Paul Klee from 1915: a dense patchwork of small rectangles in which deep black patches border glowing fields of vermilion, crimson, cobalt blue, yellow, orange and green, many of them scattered with little crosses, dots and stars. The original is a tiny sheet in gouache and watercolour on paper, only 23.5 x 29.2 cm, and it belongs to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Our painter paints it for you by hand on canvas, in oil or acrylic, in 8 landscape sizes from 40 x 30 to 190 x 145 cm or made to measure. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work.
| Title: | Deep Pathos |
| Other titles: | Tiefes Pathos (German title) · Pathos profondo (Italian title) |
| Painter: | Paul Klee (1879–1940) |
| Year painted: | 1915 |
| Original size: | 23.5 cm x 29.2 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Gouache and watercolour on paper mounted on cardboard |
| Painting style: | Modernism |
| Located at: | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Deep Pathos – Paul Klee
What does Deep Pathos show?
The whole surface is covered by a grid of small, slightly tilted rectangles, laid in rows like bricks in a wall or patches in a quilt. No edge is ruled: each piece is one quick brushstroke, and the colours blur where they meet.
Between the light fields lie large black patches, some as broad as a window, others as narrow as a beam. Beside them vermilion, crimson, cobalt blue, yellow, orange and green flare up, like light falling through coloured glass into a dark room.
Many fields carry small patterns: red and green crosses, X-shaped marks, dots, little stars and leaf shapes. At the lower right sits a round blue ring, and along the top edge sits a yellow star with short rays. At the upper left Klee wrote his name in a thin line.
What does the title Deep Pathos mean?
Pathos is a strong, solemn feeling that moves the viewer. Neither the sheet nor the sources we rely on explain the title.
What we do know is when it was made. In 1914 Klee travelled to Tunisia with his friends August Macke and Louis Moilliet and there found his breakthrough in colour: he wrote that colour had taken hold of him for ever and that he was now a painter. This sheet followed a year later.
A few weeks after that trip the First World War began. In March 1916 Klee was called up, and the deaths of his friends Macke and Franz Marc, both killed in battle, weighed on him. Whether those years marked this work is recorded nowhere; the answer is yours.
Why does this painting hold the eye?
After the Tunisian trip, English Wikipedia notes, Klee often set his scenes in a grid, so that they dissolved into a harmony of colour. Here only a rhythm of coloured planes remains, which the eye reads as a rug, a mosaic or a jewel.
The tension comes from contrast. Black is not background but an equal part of the pattern, so red and blue shine brighter beside it.
From childhood Klee played the violin, later in an orchestra as well; Rilke felt his drawings were like transcriptions of music. Here the rows of fields repeat like bars, with crosses and dots as ornaments between them.
For the painter himself, see the Wikipedia article on Paul Klee; it is in English and covers the artist, since this work has no article of its own.
Where is the original kept, and how big is it?
The original belongs to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is listed under accession number 1984.315.8. It reached the Met in 1984, one of the sheets of The Berggruen Klee Collection.
The sheet is very small, just 23.5 x 29.2 cm (height x width), roughly the size of an open exercise book, painted in gouache and watercolour on paper mounted on cardboard.
Later, from January 1921 to April 1931, Klee taught at the Bauhaus alongside Wassily Kandinsky. From those years comes The Barbed Noose with the Mice, a playful sheet with four mice running around a knotted ribbon.
Deep Pathos or another Klee?
Deep Pathos is a canvas painting for anyone who loves colour that is dense, dark and glowing all at once.
If you want more humour, choose Comedians’ Handbill, where clowns and acrobats hide among thick black signs. For a quiet, tender face there is Girl in Mourning, and for black beams with red and blue The Hour Before One Night, one of Klee’s very last works.
All the famous Paul Klee paintings we paint to order for you are gathered on our Paul Klee page.
How do we hand-paint Deep Pathos on canvas?
Klee’s original is not an oil on canvas but a small sheet of paper painted in gouache and watercolour. Ours is an oil painting reproduction on canvas: the painter works in oil or acrylic, in the size you choose, so it hangs on your wall like any painted work on a stretcher.
He first divides the canvas into rows of rectangles and marks where the black patches fall, since they hold the whole structure. Then he lays in the colours field by field, from light to dark, and leaves the brushstrokes visible as they are on the paper.
Last come the crosses, dots, stars and leaf shapes and the name at the upper left, built up layer by layer so the colours stay lively.
Which size fits which wall?
In short: 40 x 30 or 45 x 35 cm for a desk, a shelf or a narrow wall, 63 x 48 and 81 x 60 cm above a chest of drawers, a bed or in a hallway, 99 x 78 and 115 x 89 cm above a sofa, and 145 x 113 or 190 x 145 cm for a large empty wall.
We paint Deep Pathos in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 40 x 30, 45 x 35, 63 x 48, 81 x 60, 99 x 78, 115 x 89, 145 x 113 and 190 x 145 cm. The original is only 29.2 cm wide, so even our smallest size enlarges it, and at 190 x 145 cm it is about six and a half times as wide as it is in New York.
As a painting for the living room it comes into its own from 115 x 89 cm upwards, where the dark tones give the room warmth and depth. Smaller sizes suit a study or a bedroom.
Can I order a different size or a frame?
Yes. Because the composition is built from rows of equal fields, we adjust the proportions so that the pattern stays balanced and no black patch is lost. Tell us the size your wall needs and we will reply with a price and a lead time.
Your Deep Pathos leaves us rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or ready framed. Stretching and framing happen in our workshop in Slovenia, which also packs the patchwork safely for its journey. The moulding is chosen in our 3D app, a tool for the frame alone; viewing the painting on your own wall is a different, separate service.
A slim black or dark wood frame continues the black patches; a gold moulding lifts the red and yellow.
How soon will the painting arrive?
The painter starts as soon as you confirm the order, and Deep Pathos is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting; if you would like a change, we make it.
Within Slovenia and to the rest of the EU it travels without customs duties, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
The patchwork makes a fine present for a new home or a milestone birthday. If you do not know which wall awaits it, give a wall art voucher and let the recipient choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original today?
At The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, under accession number 1984.315.8.
What can I see in the painting?
Small rectangles in black, red, blue, yellow and green, with crosses and dots.
Is it printed?
No. Every patch of this hand-painted copy is laid on canvas by our painter with a brush, in oil or acrylic.
How large is the original?
Only 23.5 x 29.2 cm (height x width); our sizes go up to 190 x 145 cm.
Could I get a size missing from your list?
Yes. Send us the width and height you want, and we will prepare an offer with a price and a date.
How long will I wait for it?
From 15 to 45 working days, and before the parcel leaves you see your Deep Pathos in a photograph.
Does it suit a living room, or work as a gift?
Yes. At a large size it fills the wall above a sofa, and as a present it delights anyone who likes strong colour.
What does the word pathos in the title mean?
Pathos is a strong, solemn feeling; our sources do not interpret the title, so every viewer reads it in their own way.
- Subject: a patchwork of small rectangles, black patches among glowing red, blue, yellow and green fields with crosses and dots.
- Original: gouache and watercolour on paper mounted on cardboard, 1915, 23.5 x 29.2 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Ours: a Paul Klee reproduction painted by hand in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes from 40 x 30 to 190 x 145 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: the sheet was made a year after Klee’s trip to Tunisia, which opened the way to colour for him.
