This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Boy in Fancy Dress
Artist:Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
Date:1931
Medium:Watercolor and gouache on paper mounted on cardboard
Dimensions:24 3/4 × 18 7/8 in. (62.9 × 47.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1988
Object Number:1988.415
Inscription: Signed (upper left): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower left): VII 1931.W.6; (lower right): Costümierter Knabe
Otto Ralfs, Braunschweig; Ida Bienert, Dresden and Munich (1933–at least 1956); [Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London, 1966–67]; Otto Preminger, New York (from 1967); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1979–84; his gift to MMA)
Kunstmuseum Luzern. "Deutsche Kunst. Meisterwerke des 20.Jahrhunderts," July 4–October 2, 1953, no. 291 (lent by a private collection).
Venice. Palazzo Centrale. "XXVII Biennale," June 19–October 17, 1954, no. 31 (as "Ragazzo in costume," lent by a private collection, Munich).
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Paul Klee," August 11–November 4, 1956, no. 616 (lent by a private collection, Munich).
Hamburg. Kunstverein. "Paul Klee," December 2, 1956–January 27, 1957, no. 274 (lent by a private collection, Munich).
London. Marlborough Fine Art Ltd. "Paul Klee," June–July 1966 (extended to mid-August 1966 at the Marlborough New London Gallery), no. 40.
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. 239).
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. 249).
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. 249).
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. 57.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: Of Men and Women," opened March 27, 1990.
Nagoya. Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Paul Klee Retrospective," April 2–May 23, 1993, no. 177.
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Paul Klee Retrospective," June 1–July 25, 1993, no. 177.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Paul Klee Retrospective," July 31–September 21, 1993, no. 177.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Late Klee," December 6, 1996–April 13, 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. 35.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee: The Late Years," March 19–June 27, 2004, no catalogue.
Dresden. Palais Brühlsche Terrasse. Zeitgenössische Kunst. "Von Monet bis Mondrian: Meisterwerke der Moderne aus Dresdner Privatsammlungen der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts," September 16, 2006–January 14, 2007, no. 79.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Late Klee," October 18, 2012–March 31, 2013, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Humor and Fantasy: The Berggruen Paul Klee Collection," September 1, 2016–January 2, 2017, 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. Exh. cat., Marlborough Fine Art Ltd. London, 1966, p. 52, no. 40, ill. and ill. front cover (color).
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. 238–41, 287, 318, ill. (color, overall and detail, and bw), describes Klee's technique of first coating the paper with gray gouache, then painting horizontal rows of little squares with white gesso, and lastly applying the watercolor; remarks that the mosaic like rows were precisely planned, so that each side of the picture contains 40 squares; refers to "Boy at Table" (1932; Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena; HR 5715) as a later version of this picture.
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 6, 1931–1933. New York, 2002, p. 146, no. 5651, ill.
Vivian Endicott Barnett. The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum. [Pasadena], 2002, pp. 328–29, fig. 340A, comments that the technique of this picture and "Boy at Table" (Norton Simon Museum; HR 5715) is reminiscent of the mosaics Klee saw during his trip to Ravenna in 1926; relates both pictures to "Portrait of a Boy" (1920; Kunstmuseum Bern; HR 2412).
Eliane Escoubas inPaul Klee. Philosophical Vision: From Nature to Art. Ed. John Sallis. Exh. cat., McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College. Chestnut Hill, Mass., 2012, p. 144.
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.
