Inscription: Signed (lower right): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower center): 1921/36 Bildnis eines Gelben
Gesellschaft zur Förderung deutscher Kunst des 20.Jahrhunderts, Neuss am Rhein (1921–22; collection dissolved in 1922; its sale, Kunstgewerbeschule Essen, December 8, 1924, to Geller); Johannes Geller, Neuss am Rhein (1924–d. 1954); his family, Neuss am Rhein (1954–55; their sale, Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, November 30, 1955, no. 1387, sold to Berggruen); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1955–84; his gift to MMA)
Düsseldorf. Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen. "Das Neue Aquarell," summer 1924, no catalogue?
Düsseldorf. Galerie Alfred Flechtheim. "Paul Klee. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen u. Graphik aus 25 Jahren," February 15–March 10, 1930, no. 77 (as "Antlitz des Gelben," not for sale).
Staatliches Museum Saarbrücken. "Paul Klee. Aquarelle aus 25 Jahren, 1905 bis 1930," March 23–April 22, 1930, no. 108.
Paris. Berggruen et Cie. "Klee et Kandinsky: Une confrontation," March 1959, unnumbered cat. (as "Bildnis eines Gelben, Portrait d'un jaune, Portrait of a Yellow One").
Paris. Berggruen et Cie. "Paul Klee. Les années 20," May–July 1971, no. 10.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 6–July 31, 1988, unnumbered cat. (p. 151).
Kunsthalle Tübingen. "Paul Klee: Die Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York und im Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," January 22–April 16, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 151).
London. Tate Gallery. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," May 17–August 13, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 151).
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Paul Klee: Selección de sesenta obras. The Berggruen Klee Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 1989–January 1990, no. 29.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: Of Men and Women," opened March 27, 1990, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Humor of Klee," May 14 or 15–October 4, 1992, no catalogue.
Haus der Kunst München. "Elan vital oder Das Auge des Eros," May 20–August 14, 1994, no. 312.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee at the Bauhaus," April 18–August 17, 1997, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: Figures and Faces," August 23–November 16, 1997, no catalogue.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Sammlung Berggruen. "Klee aus New York: Hauptwerke der Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 4–October 18, 1998, no. 18.
Turin. Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea. "Paul Klee," October 26, 2000–January 7, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 80).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Creatures," December 12, 2003–March 14, 2004, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee: His Years at the Bauhaus (1921–1931)," November 19, 2004–April 3, 2005, no catalogue.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 16, 2018–March 17, 2019, no catalogue.
Will Grohmann. Paul Klee. Milan, 1958, colorpl. 3, as in the Berggruen collection, Paris.
Irmgard Feldhaus. "Die Gesellschaft zur Förderung deutscher Kunst des 20.Jahrhunderts." Neusser Jahrbuch für Kunst, Kulturgeschichte und Heimatkunde (1959), p. 18, ill. p. 21.
Felix Klee. Paul Klee: 12 aquarelles. Paris, 1964, unpaginated, colorpl. 8.
Robert E. Fisher. Klee. Ed. Theodore Reff. New York, 1966, pp. 17–18, colorpl. 21, calls it "Portrait of a Man in Yellow" and locates it in the Galerie Berggruen, Paris.
Jean-Louis Ferrier. Paul Klee: Les années 20. Paris, 1971, ill. p. 50 and n. p. (color and bw).
Jutta Assel. F. H. Ehmcke und seine Neusser Schüler: H. Cossmann, E. Malzburg, J. Urbach. Exh. cat., Clemens-Sels-Museum. Neuss, 1984, p. 25.
Sabine Rewald. Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, pp. 150–51, 279, 318, ill. (color and bw).
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 3, 1919–1922. New York, 1999, pp. 329, 335, no. 2727, ill. p. 329 and front cover (color).
Max Tauch inPaul Klee im Rheinland: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Gouachen. Ed. Uta Gerlach-Laxner and Frank Günter Zehnder. Exh. cat., Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. Cologne, 2003, pp. 50–52, figs. 3 (1943 list of Johannes Geller's collection, no. 28) and 4, describes Geller's role in founding the Gesellschaft zur Förderung deutscher Kunst des 20.Jahrhunderts, a collective of art patrons; notes that it is not clear if the works by Klee were purchased directly from the artist or through an intermediary; relates that due to economic hardship in Germany, the Gesellschaft dissolved in 1922 and works were sold to individual members.
Stefan Frey inPaul Klee im Rheinland: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Gouachen. Ed. Uta Gerlach-Laxner and Frank Günter Zehnder. Exh. cat., Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. Cologne, 2003, p. 18, states that the Gesellschaft zur Förderung deutscher Kunst im 20.Jahrhundert sold their works [including this one] at auction on December 8, 1924.
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1921
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
