Paul Klee – Red Balloon

Red Balloon is a small painting by Paul Klee from 1922: a round red balloon floats above a cluster of little houses built from squares and rectangles in yellow, green, violet, black and pink, under a mottled grey-green sky. The original is oil on chalk-primed gauze mounted on board, only 31.8 x 31.1 cm, and belongs to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Here a painter transfers it by hand onto canvas for you, in oil or acrylic, in 8 sizes from 35 x 35 to 200 x 200 cm or made to measure, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of your finished painting.

Red Balloon – Paul Klee

What does Red Balloon show?

In the upper half, a little left of centre, hangs a large red circle: the balloon that gives the work its name. Below it a thin line drops through a small net-like shape, rather like a tiny basket, and ends in a dot just above the houses.

Below and to the sides stand little houses, stacked like toy building blocks. On the left rises a tall building with an arched top in reddish and blue tones, with a wide yellow rectangle beside it. On the right is a house with a pointed roof and a small black square that reads as a window; beneath it come pale violet, yellow and green fields and, at the very bottom, a red rectangle.

In the lower centre sit darker green, dark brown and pink blocks under a small red and a small blue triangle, and at bottom left a blue-grey plane turns into a green slope. The sky is mottled grey-green with passages of blue and yellowish light, and the fine weave of the gauze shows through the paint.

What does Red Balloon mean?

There is no single answer. Klee gave the work only a short title naming the balloon, and the sources we rely on record no explanation from him.

What is certain is what you see: the balloon is the only perfectly round form, and everything else is made of straight edges, squares and rectangles.

The painting dates from 1922, the years when Klee taught at the Bauhaus. Senecio and Twittering Machine come from the same year, and you will find both further down.

Why is Red Balloon so appealing?

Because it is simple. One red circle above a few coloured blocks is enough to recognise it from the doorway; up close you then discover thin lines, triangles and patches of colour in the sky.

Paul Klee was born in 1879 in Münchenbuchsee near Bern, the son of a German music teacher and a Swiss singer. He was close to the Blue Rider circle around Kandinsky and Franz Marc, and a 1914 trip to Tunisia with August Macke and Louis Moilliet brought his breakthrough in colour.

He played the violin from childhood, in an orchestra too, and Rilke wrote that his drawings seemed like transcriptions of music. He left more than 9,000 works. The English Wikipedia article on Paul Klee is about the painter rather than this painting; there is no separate article on the red balloon there.

Where is the original, and what is it made of?

The original belongs to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, accession number 48.1172.524.

Klee did not paint on ordinary canvas. He took gauze as his support, primed it with chalk, mounted it on board and painted on it in oil. The technique also includes an oil transfer drawing, a process he devised himself. So the original is an oil painting, but one with an unusually rough surface.

In 1922 Klee was teaching at the Bauhaus, where he worked alongside Wassily Kandinsky from January 1921 to April 1931, and after that at the Düsseldorf Academy until 1933. In 1937 the Nazis showed seventeen of his pictures in the “Degenerate art” exhibition and seized 102 of his works from public collections. He died in 1940.

Red Balloon or another Klee?

Red Balloon is a canvas painting for people who like a lot of colour in a small space and a cheerful, playful mood.

From the same year comes Senecio, a round head built of orange, pink and yellow fields. If thin lines appeal to you, choose Twittering Machine, with four birds on a wire and a crank on the right.

For a larger wall, later works suit better: Highways and Byways from 1929, with bands of colour climbing towards the horizon, and Ad Parnassum from 1932, where a pyramid rises out of thousands of tiny dots. More famous Paul Klee paintings that we paint to order are gathered on the Paul Klee page.

How do we hand-paint Red Balloon on canvas?

To be clear: the original is a small oil on gauze mounted on board, while ours is a hand-painted Paul Klee reproduction on canvas. The painter works in oil or acrylic, at the size you choose, so it hangs on the wall like any other painting; choose oil and you have an oil painting reproduction in the full sense.

First the canvas is divided up in pencil, and the little houses, their arched and pointed tops and the circle of the balloon are drawn in. Then the mottled sky is built up in several thin glazes so it gains the same soft, cloudy depth. Only after that come the fields of colour, and last of all the red balloon in its deepest red.

The final step is the fine dark lines around the blocks and the string beneath the balloon.

Which size suits which wall?

In short: 35 x 35 or 45 x 45 cm for a shelf, hallway or child’s room, 60 x 60 and 70 x 70 cm over a chest of drawers or a bed, 90 x 90 and 120 x 120 cm over the sofa, and 150 x 160 or 200 x 200 cm for a large empty wall.

We paint it in 8 sizes (width x height): 35 x 35, 45 x 45, 60 x 60, 70 x 70, 90 x 90, 120 x 120, 150 x 160 and 200 x 200 cm. The original gauze measures 31.8 x 31.1 cm, so our sizes enlarge the work, the largest roughly sixfold.

As a painting for the living room it works best at 90 x 90 or 120 x 120 cm above the sofa, with the lower edge 20 to 30 cm above the backrest.

Can I order another size or a frame?

Yes. If you need a different ratio, we adjust the composition carefully so the balloon stays above the houses and no field is cut off. For a square or rectangle in other dimensions, write to us through the made-to-measure painting form.

The balloon travels to you rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed, and our workshop in Slovenia handles the stretching and the frame. You pick the moulding in our 3D app, which is for choosing the frame only; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.

The grey-green sky and colourful houses suit a slim frame in light wood or a plain black moulding.

When will Red Balloon arrive?

The painter starts once you confirm the order, and the painting is ready to ship in 15 to 45 working days. Before packing it we send you a photograph of your finished painting and, if you wish, make another change.

There is no customs duty within Slovenia and the EU, and every order is covered by our returns policy.

Red Balloon makes a cheerful present for a birthday, a new home or a child’s room. If you do not know the recipient’s wall, give a gift voucher and let them choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I see the original?

At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which holds it under accession number 48.1172.524.

What is painted on it?

A round red balloon floats above little houses made of coloured squares and rectangles, under a grey-green sky.

Is it a print?

No. You receive a hand-painted copy on canvas, brushed by the painter in oil or acrylic.

How big is the original?

Only 31.8 x 31.1 cm; even our smallest size, 35 x 35 cm, is slightly larger.

Could the balloon be painted in a size missing from the list?

Yes, send us the width and height and we reply with a quote and a lead time.

How long do painting and delivery take?

Allow 15 to 45 working days for the balloon; a photograph of the finished canvas reaches you before it ships.

Does it suit a child’s room or work as a gift?

Yes. The cheerful colours and simple motif suit a child’s room, and as a gift it pleases anyone who loves colour.

Does the balloon have a special meaning?

Our sources record no explanation from Klee, so we describe the balloon as it appears: the only round form among straight edges.

• Motif: a round red balloon above little houses of yellow, green, violet, black and pink fields, under a mottled sky.
• Original: oil on chalk-primed gauze mounted on board, 1922, 31.8 x 31.1 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
• Our painting: hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas in 8 sizes, from 35 x 35 to 200 x 200 cm, or made to measure.
• Good to know: Klee painted it during his Bauhaus years; in the original the weave of the gauze shows through the paint.