Red Balloon
1922 · Oil on chalk-primed gauze, mounted on board · Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
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About this work
- Artist
- Paul Klee (1879–1940)
- Year
- 1922
- Medium
- Oil on chalk-primed gauze, mounted on board
- Original size
- 31.8 × 31.1 cm
- Collection
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
- Movement
- Bauhaus
A red balloon floats above a jumble of flat shapes that suggest houses and walls: blocks of yellow, green, violet and black, with a pointed roof at upper right and a dark rectangular doorway at the bottom. The ground is a soft, mottled mix of grey-green, ochre and blue, with the weave of the fabric showing through. Klee painted it in 1922 at the Bauhaus in Weimar, in oil on chalk-primed gauze mounted on board, a technique he used for small pictures to give them a fragile, aged surface. The balloon, the only round and bright form, gives the quiet architecture a sense of lift. The picture is in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which acquired it in 1948 with the estate of the dealer Karl Nierendorf.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A red balloon rising above muted green, ochre and violet house shapes, for a child's room, nursery or reading nook at 16×24 in natural wood. A pale grey, sage or warm white wall; it pairs with Castle and Sun.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Bauhaus painting
- Era
- 20th century (1922)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- nursery, kids room, living room, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Red Balloon in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Red Balloon painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
