As President of the Paul-Klee-Stiftung [Paul Klee Foundation], founded in 1947, Dr h. c. Felix Klee, the only son of Paul and Lily Klee, dedicated himself to the works of his father. We owe him a considerable debt for building up the Paul-Klee-Stiftung.

In 1990 died Felix Klee. Two years later, Paul Klee’s grandson Alexander Klee approached the authorities of Bern’s Art Museum and the City and Canton of Bern, and explained that the Klee family was prepared to make available a large part of Felix Klee’s estate to potential sponsors of a Paul Klee museum.

In 1997, the Klee family said that, in principle, they were prepared to make the works of this outstanding artist in their private possession available to a wider public. The decisive step was taken by Livia Klee-Meyer, widow of Felix Klee, when she donated her inheritance to the City and Canton of Bern in summer 1997.

With her generous donation to the City and Canton of Bern of almost 690 works, Livia Klee-Meyer, Paul Klee’s daughter-in-law, got the project underway in 1997, thereby setting the first milestone. In a donation contract of 1997, she gave her share to the public on condition that a Paul Klee Museum be built by the end of the year 2006.

In accepting Livia Klee-Meyer’s donation the public authorities undertook jointly to plan a museum dedicated to Paul Klee, to be completed by 2006 at the latest, and to ensure its long-term operations.

In 1998 Alexander Klee agreed contractually to loan the future institution some 850 works as permanent loans and to donate documents from the family’s possessions. The same year, the Paul-Klee-Stiftung announced it would be prepared to merge with the Zentrum Paul Klee, along with its collection (some 2,600 works and extensive archives). The merging of these collections and the securing of a further 200 loans from several private collections created the world’s largest collection of works by an artist of world renown. The Zentrum Paul Klee houses about 40 per cent of Paul Klee’s entire pictorial oeuvre.

As in the case of Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and other artists to whom specific museums have been dedicated, Bern will have the opportunity to build a special cultural centre in honour of a man who was surely the most important artist ever to have worked and lived for over 30 years in this town.