The Hour Before One Night

Inscription: Signed (upper left): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower left): 1940 L 17; (lower right): die Stunde vor einer Nacht

the artist, Bern (until d. 1940); his widow, Lily Klee, Bern (1940–46); Paul Klee Society, later Paul Klee Foundation, Bern (1946–47; in 1947 to Rosengart); [Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne, 1947–52; stock no. 5032; sold in 1952 to van Pallandt]; Baron Floris Carselius van Pallandt, The Hague (from 1952); by descent to private collection (until 1981; sale, Christie's, London, December 1, 1981, no. 365, sold to Berggruen); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1981–84; his gift to MMA)

Lucerne. Galerie Rosengart. "Paul Klee," June–September 1948, no. 58.

Antwerp. Galerij Artes. "Paul Klee," March 1949, no. 58.

Liège. A.P.I.A.W. (Association pour le progrès intellectuel et artistique de la Wallonie). "Paul Klee," April 9–21, 1949, no. 58.

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. 265).

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. 275).

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. 275).

Kunstmuseum Bern. "Paul Klee. Das Schaffen im Todesjahr," August 17–November 4, 1990, no. 264.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee's Line," March 18–July 9, 2000, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Abstract," September 5–December 7, 2003, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee: The Late Years," March 19–June 27, 2004, no catalogue.

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.

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. 264–65, 289, 319, ill. (color and bw).

Michele Reiner in Paul Klee. Ultimo decennio/ Letztes Jahrzehnt 1930–1940. Exh. cat., Museo d'arte, Mendrisio. Mendrisio, 1990, unpaginated.

Stefan Frey, and Josef Helfenstein, with Irene Rehmann. Paul Klee: Verzeichnis der Werke des Jahres 1940. Stuttgart, 1991, pp. 172–73, ill.

Ulrich Bischoff. Paul Klee. Munich, 1992, pp. 136, 174, colorpl. 90.

Josef Helfenstein, Christian Rümelin, and Eva Wiederkehr Sladeczek, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 9, 1940. New York, 2004, pp. 178, 191, no. 9296, ill. (bw and color), as "Die Stunde vor einer Nacht (The Hour Before a Night)".