Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
About the Artwork
Paul Klee made this drawing during World War I. It shows a hovering figure, who could be saintly or demonic, overlooking a scene that includes a zeppelin, a decapitated child, a fallen soldier, and a recoiling (or attacking) figure. The soldier’s helmet displays a handle, implying the mechanized or dehumanized war machine. Klee’s title for the drawing includes the depiction of a point (•), which refers to the circular zeppelin or circle that frequently appeared in his drawings as a menacing omen. In 1915 Klee wrote: “The more horrifying this world becomes the more art becomes abstract; while a world at peace produces realistic art.”
Inscriptions
signed, upper right, in black ink: Klee ; TERTIARY SUPPORT, by artist, center left, in black ink: 1916 57 ; VERSO OF TERTIARY SUPPORT, lower left, in red ink: 7983-B
Provenance
Galerie Rosengart, Lucern (old label in file; stamped, verso, lower center, in purple ink: GALERIE ROSENGART / LUZERN). Frederick C. Shang, South Norwalk, Connecticut (old label in file); Eugene Victor Thaw (departmental catalog sheet); [The New Gallery, New York] (old label in file)
Exhibition history
Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961). Prints and Drawings, 1916-1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 20-July 24, 1966). German Drawings of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art (April 1-July 13, 1980). Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987). Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991). The German Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-June 27, 1993). Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 14-May 27, 2018).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Paul Klee (German, 1879–1940)
- Date
- 1916
- Medium
- pen and black ink
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 12.4 x 14.5 cm (4 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.); Secondary Support: 12.4 x 14.5 cm (4 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.); Tertiary Support: 24.4 x 31.9 cm (9 5/8 x 12 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession no.
- 1961.50
More by Paul Klee in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011312
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