Paul Klee was born in 1879 in Switzerland to a German father and Swiss mother. His father was a music teacher and his mother an actress. They encouraged their son to become a musician, but as a teen he decided his calling was in visual art, not music. In the early 20th century he found success as an artist and was part of the Expressionist, Abstract Art and Surrealism movements. Much like his Russian friend, Wassily Kandinsky, he did much study with color and shapes. Klee loved the innocence and joy of children’s art, and allowed them to influence his work. His work was often humorous and playful, and the use of basic shapes and bright colors was seen in much of his work. Klee loved using basic shapes to create pictures of cities, churches and the castles that dotted the countryside in Germany. Paul Klee Art Project is influenced by some of Klee’s most basic paintings, where squares, rectangles and triangles are used to create a cityscape.
Paul Klee Art Project Materials
- white cardstock paper
- 9 inch by 12 inch piece of black construction paper
- glue stick
- scissors
- markers, crayons, paints, ect. to color the shapes
- template
Paul Klee Art Project Directions
Note: An alternative to cutting out shapes is to simply have children draw shapes directly on construction paper then color them in. We choose to actually have children cut out shapes to emphasis how shapes can be manipulated to make pictures.
Use books or online resources to view samples of Paul Klee’s paintings.
Make 2 copies of the template on white cardstock paper.
Using markers, crayons, paints, etc., color the various shapes with different colors. The circle will be a moon or a sun.
Color both pages differently.
Cut out both pages of shapes along the center of the black lines.
Use the shapes as building blocks to create buildings. Allow children to try different combinations. There is not one right way to put them together.
When satisfied with the design, take off one piece at a time, apply a glue stick to the back of a shape and glue it to the black construction paper.
If your child would like to add more detail, this can be done by using a black or dark gray marker to add detail and/or cut out some of the remaining shapes to make windows and doors.
There should be enough shapes left to create a second picture.
