Zentrum Paul Klee Bern Founded by Maurice E. and Martha Müller and the heirs of Paul Klee

Comedian, 1904

But no other subject is so intensely dealt with in the «Inventionen» as the comedian, which comes up in three different versions.

All of them show the head of a man in profile, hidden behind a mask. While the faces of the two first versions are recognisable as self-portraits, the third image focuses on a more fundamental reflection by Klee on his existence as an artist. Here, the discrepancy in the earlier pictures between what the artist is and what he does gives way to a duality of artistic form and artistic personality.