Paul Klee, on Making a Twittering Machine Art

The Twitter art from 1922.

First of all, the art of living; then as my ideal profession, poetry and philosophy, and as my real profession, plastic arts; in the last resort, for lack of income, illustrations. —Paul Klee.

Paul Klee

German, born in Switzerland. 1879–1940.

Twittering Machine (Die Zwitscher-Maschine)

1922

Twittering Machine

1922 watercolor and pen and ink oil transfer on paper by Swiss-German painter Paul Klee.

Oil transfer drawing, watercolor, and ink on paper with gouache and ink borders on board.

25 1/4 x 19" (64.1 x 48.3 cm). 1922.

"A violent marriage of nature and industry, the crazy contraption in the Twittering Machine mechanizes the songs of birds." — MoMA.

Paul Klee

Paul Klee's style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.