Walter Gropius invited Paul Klee to join the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar as a workshop "master of form" (Formmeister), bringing a prominent modern painter into the school’s teaching staff just as its curriculum and workshops were consolidating.
Klee started teaching at the Bauhaus at the beginning of 1921, initiating a decade-long tenure in which he taught across workshops and developed influential lecture notes on form and pictorial thinking.
After initially commuting, Klee moved with his family to Weimar, placing him in daily proximity to Bauhaus workshops and allowing his teaching and studio practice to become tightly interwoven.
Wassily Kandinsky was appointed to the Bauhaus, renewing his close professional and intellectual exchange with Klee—an important context for both artists’ teaching and theoretical work at the school.
Klee’s text "Wege des Naturstudiums" (“Ways of Studying Nature”) appeared in a Bauhaus anthology, illustrating how his teaching linked close observation of nature to abstract pictorial organization—central to Bauhaus debates on form and perception.
For the first major Bauhaus Exhibition (Weimar, 15 Aug–30 Sep 1923), Klee’s teaching was integrated into the evolving curriculum; Bauhaus-Archiv notes his role in the preliminary course’s design instruction on “Form,” reflecting his growing pedagogical impact.
Political changes in Thuringia led to notice being served on Bauhaus masters’ contracts, culminating in the decision to close the Bauhaus in Weimar effective 1 April 1925—setting the stage for Klee’s move with the school to Dessau.
Klee’s Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch (“Pedagogical Sketchbook”) was published as Bauhausbücher volume 2, distilling key elements of his Bauhaus teaching—especially analytical approaches to line, form, and movement—into a widely circulated text.
When the Bauhaus relocated from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, Klee initially commuted between the two cities before settling fully in Dessau, maintaining teaching continuity during the institutional transition.
Klee moved to Dessau (July 1926) and lived in the Gropius-designed Masters’ Houses complex, sharing a semi-detached house with Kandinsky—an arrangement that shaped daily life, collegial exchange, and studio work during the Dessau years.
Klee’s essay "Exact Experiments in the Realm of Art" appeared in bauhaus magazine, exemplifying the school’s effort to articulate a disciplined, research-like approach to visual form while preserving the role of artistic intuition.
Klee traveled across Egypt from 17 December 1928 to 17 January 1929 (Alexandria to Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan). Although few works were made on the trip itself, the journey became a lasting reservoir of motifs and structural ideas later processed in his art.
The Museum of Modern Art exhibited Paul Klee’s work in New York in March–April 1930, reflecting his international visibility during his Bauhaus period and helping cement his reputation in the United States.
By 1931, escalating institutional tensions and the demands of lecturing and administration contributed to Klee’s decision to resign from the Bauhaus, marking the end of his ten-year teaching period across Weimar and Dessau.
Klee accepted and began a professorship at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (effective 1 July 1931), transitioning away from Bauhaus teaching while continuing to work in and commute from Dessau for a period.
Paul Klee’s teaching and work at the Bauhaus (1920–1931)
