A red opaque rectangle stands out among bands of muted browns, greens, violets, and blues, which dynamically interact to suggest built structures or geographic formations. Klee's trip to Egypt in the winter of 1928-29 inspired a number of striated compositions, a response in part to the stratified cliffs of the Nile Valley and the long strips of tilled fields he saw there. These works "moved far from Nature," he said, "and found their way back to reality." While the work is apparently abstract, the variation within the simple formal palette of line and color constructs depth and space and even evokes a fire aflame in a desert at day's end.
2006.
Provenance Research Project
This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.
Paul Klee, Dessau, Germany.
Hermann (1880-1962) and Margrit Rupf, Bern, acquired from the artist.
By 1950 - 1965, Georg Schmidt (1896-1965), Basel-Binningen, Switzerland, probably acquired from Hermann and Margrit Rupf.
1965 - 1968, Anita Moppert-Schmidt, Basel-Binningen, Switzerland, inherited from Georg Schmidt.
[1968, Frank Perls Gallery, Los Angeles]
1968, Kornfeld & Klipstein, Bern, acquired on consignment from Anita Moppert-Schmidt.
June 13-15, 1968 - 1970, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, purchased at the auction Moderne Kunst des neunzehnten und zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts from Anita Moppert-Schmidt through Kornfeld & Klipstein (no. 479).
1970, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchased from Galerie Beyeler.
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