The Diaries of Paul Klee, 1898-1918

An essential book for those deeply interested in the life of the artist Paul Klee.A newcomer to Klee may want to read a conventional biography of this great artist, before reading this particular book. Here Klee's early days are covered, his marriage (although not much of his wife is to be found), and his days during the Great War in the German army (basically soft duty away from the deadly front).Klee was, in addition to being a renowned artist, was a fine classical musician, and thoughtful writer.He enjoyed the letters of Van Gogh and, I think, this influenced these diaries.

It is truly a relief to see this great artist, Paul Klee, express such doubt and self-deprecation with respect to his abilities. This collection of diaries is an excellent inner chronicle of the life and artistic development of the man. Klee was truly a great writer as well as painter, his descriptions of music sing with a kind of clarity few have matched. It is also particularly interesting to read his interactions with the other prominent painters of his period, such as Kandinsky. Although we do not get the same kind of depth of insight that you may find in the letters of Van Gogh, this is nevertheless a welcome view into the life of this brilliant creator of art.

He began this diary over 100 years ago. It is excellent insight into the extensive energies he would put into his approach tomodern art and where it would take him. It is too bad the diary did not continue to the end of his life since I think his yearsat the Bauhaus and beyond to Bern would be valuable history. But, better to make his art than write about it. Interesting thatit was translated so well from the original German and that his son, Felix added an addendum to his father's diary at the end.

my brother who is an artist loves it, recommended it, would give it five starsbut basically random jottings of say a paragraph about often pretty mundane life events

Great book, great service. Paul Klee was an interesting character, and a fantastic artist. I love being able to see his sketches and read what was going on in his head that he put down in his diary.

I would recomend it for every single art student in the world.One of the best texts about art ever writen by the own artist.A very beautiful edition.Loved it.

GOOD!

This and other books by Klee belong in every designers library

A fantastic read for an enthusiast art lover / historian from lost of angles: How Europe was shaping up in that period with the eyes of a student / artist / young person / adult; Klee's artistic and personal development with his own - sometimes harsh, honest and always entertaining - words. My biggest surprise was however is that his life was not as unfamiliar as i expected: not much changed from the human point of view. I could certainly draw parallels between his and my own youth (a hundred years later!). A book worth reading and I would love to see it made into a film!

Publishing details aren't good in this - no translator is named, which seems most unfair. I bought it only to read the passages about WWI, though eventually I might get round to reading the rest of it. It was fascinating to see how Klee pretty much kept on with his work, in spite of being drafted into the German army - - a good wheeze to rent a flat in the town he was allowed to go to on leave, and use it to change into civvies so he could travel by train to visit his family. An interesting sidelight on non-combatant work in the German army during WWI

クレーの日記です。日本語訳本はすでに絶版です。古本屋さんでは見つかるかもしれません。こちらは分厚いペーパーバックです。オリジナルはドイツ語だから、日本語訳よりもこちらの英訳のほうが原文に近いと思いますので、お薦めします。