With the Dot (1916): Art, History and Details

With the Dot (1916) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Paul Klee (German, 1879–1940).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Paul Klee made this drawing during World War I. It shows a hovering figure, who could be saintly or demonic, overlooking a scene that includes a zeppelin, a decapitated child, a fallen soldier, and a recoiling (or attacking) figure. The soldier’s helmet displays a handle, implying the mechanized or dehumanized war machine. Klee’s title for the drawing includes the depiction of a point (•), which refers to the circular zeppelin or circle that frequently appeared in his drawings as a menacing omen. In 1915 Klee wrote: “The more horrifying this world becomes the more art becomes abstract; while a world at peace produces realistic art.”

Object facts

• Title: With the Dot
• Date: 1916
• Creator attribution: Paul Klee (German, 1879–1940)
• Culture: Germany, 20th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pen and black ink
• Dimensions: Sheet: 12.4 x 14.5 cm (4 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.); Secondary Support: 12.4 x 14.5 cm (4 7/8 x 5 11/16 in.); Tertiary Support: 24.4 x 31.9 cm (9 5/8 x 12 9/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - German
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1961.50

Collection credit

Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art

Further reading listed by the museum

• Klee, Paul, Pavel Tchelitchew, Franz Kline, and Louise S. Richards. “Three Contemporary Drawings.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 3 (March 1962): 55–59.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.