Inscription: Signed (lower right, in pen and black ink): Klee; dated and inscribed (on board, lower edge center, in pen and black ink): 1926 V.8. abwandernder Vogel
the artist, Dessau (1926–27; sold in 1927, for RM 450, to Bürgi-Bigler); Hannah Bürgi-Bigler, Bern (1927–d. 1938); her son and daughter-in-law, Rolf and Catherine E. Bürgi, Bern and Belp (1938–his d. 1967); Catherine E. Bürgi, Bern and Belp (1967–73; sold in 1973 to Beyeler); [Galerie Beyeler, Basel, 1973–74; sold in 1974 to private collection]; private collection, Switzerland (1974–80; sold in 1980 to Gibson); [Thomas Gibson Fine Art, Ltd., London, 1980]; Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1980–87; his gift to MMA)
Paris. Galerie Vavin-Raspail. "23 aquarelles de Paul Klee illustrant le mot du peintre seront exposées pour la deuxième fois en France," March 16–31, 1927, no. 5.
Berlin. Galerie Alfred Flechtheim. "Paul Klee," October 20–November 15, 1929, no. 71 (lent by Bürgi, Bern).
Kunsthalle Bern. "Paul Klee, Walter Helbig, M. de Vlaminck, Philipp Bauknecht, Arnold Huggler," January 18–February 15, 1931, no. 28 (lent by H. B., Bern).
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Paul Klee. Leihgabe der Frau H. Bürgi und Besitz des Kunstmuseums," September 1937–September 1938, no catalogue (checklist no. 40).
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Paul Klee," August 11–November 4, 1956, no. 550 (lent by a private collection).
Hamburg. Kunstverein. "Paul Klee," December 2, 1956–January 27, 1957, no. 210 (lent by a private collection).
Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne. "Paul Klee," November 25, 1969–February 16, 1970, no. 78 (as "L'Oiseau migrateur," lent by a private collection, Bern).
Basel. Galerie Beyeler. "Klee: 'Kunst ist ein Schöpfungsgleichnis'," September–November 1973, no. 34.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Paul Klee," February 12–May 5, 1987, unnumbered cat. (p. 218).
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Paul Klee," June 24–August 16, 1987, unnumbered cat.
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Paul Klee: Leben und Werk," September 25, 1987–January 3, 1988, no. 170.
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. 212).
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. 223).
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. 223).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee and Friends," June 8–November 26, 1995, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 20, 1997–February 8, 1998, 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. 33.
Dessau. Meisterhaus Kandinsky-Klee. "Wassily Kandinsky und Paul Klee. Eine Malerfreundschaft in Dessau," February 4–May 7, 2000, no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes by Klee and Kiefer," January 19–September 30, 2001, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee the Voyager," February 4–May 4, 2003, no catalogue.
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: The Late Years," March 19–June 27, 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.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 1, 2005–March 5, 2006, no catalogue.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Das Universum Klee / The Klee Universe," October 31, 2008–February 8, 2009, unnumbered cat. (p. 204; as "Abwandernder Vogel [Emigrating Bird]").
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.
Dr. E[ckart]. v[on]. S[ydow]. "Paul Klee. Galerie A. Flechtheim." Die Kunstauktion 3 (October 27, 1929), p. 14.
Max Huggler inKünstler Lexikon der Schweiz XX. Jahrhundert. Ed. Eduard Plüss. Vol. 1, A–Le Corbusier. Frauenfeld, 1961, p. 526.
Katalin de Walterskirchen. Paul Klee. New York, 1975, ill. p. 43 (color), as "Migratory Bird".
Mark Lawrence Rosenthal. "Paul Klee and the Arrow." PhD diss., University of Iowa, 1979, p. 188, calls it "Migrating Bird".
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. 212–13, 285, 318, ill. (color and bw), calls "View of a Landscape" (1926; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Helfenstein and Rümelin 2000, no. 4177) a companion to this picture, adding that both are related to "Mountains in Winter" (1925; Kunstmuseum Bern; Helfenstein and Rümelin 2000, no. 3684); describes the technique used in all three pictures of placing shapes on the paper and spraying watercolor over them, a method developed by Klee at the Bauhaus in 1924.
Jane Norrie. "Paul Klee." Arts Review 41 (June 2, 1989), p. 439.
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 4, 1923–1926. New York, 2000, pp. 442, 500, no. 4176, ill. (color and bw), as "Abwandernder Vogel (Emigrating Bird)".
Regine Prange. "Klee und Kandinsky in Dessau." Architektur und Kunst: Das Meisterhaus Kandinsky-Klee in Dessau. Leipzig, 2000, pp. 88, 90, colorpl. 23.
"Paul Klee. Der Künstler und die Sammlerin. Die Komplette Sammlung Hannah Bürgi." Du no. 703 (February 2000), p. 56, ill. (color), states that Bürgi purchased it in 1927 for RM 450, as a member of the Klee Gesellschaft.
Stefan Frey inPaul Klee: Die Sammlung Bürgi. Ed. Stefan Frey and Josef Helfenstein. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Bern. Zurich, 2000, pp. 21, 29 n. 74, fig. 10 (Klee's handwritten invoice for Hannah Bürgi's account), notes that Bürgi purchased this work within her first three years of joining the Klee Gesellschaft in 1925.
Paul Klee was unrivaled among his contemporaries in his wide-ranging experimentation with materials and unconventional techniques. Join scholar Charles W. Haxthausen as he explores the variety of Klee’s practice and reflects on its art-historical implications.
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1921
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