In The Current Six Thresholds

The Enigmatic Geometry of Paul Klee’s 1929 Masterwork

Painted in 1929, at the height of Klee’s tenure at the Bauhaus, In The Current Six Thresholds distills the artist’s singular ability to reconcile precision with poetic ambiguity. The work belongs to a period when Klee was refining his visual language into what he termed “pictorial writing”—a system where abstract signs and geometric forms functioned as a kind of coded script. This particular composition, with its interlocking planes and muted chromatic harmonies, exemplifies his mature style: rigorous yet open-ended, architectural yet lyrical.

The title itself invites interpretation. “Thresholds” suggests transitions—between spaces, states of being, or even artistic movements. By 1929, Klee had absorbed the lessons of Cubism, Expressionism, and the nascent Bauhaus ethos, synthesizing them into something entirely his own. The painting’s grid-like structure echoes the rationalism of modernist design, while its delicate washes of color and irregular contours preserve a handmade, almost musical quality. As MoMA’s retrospective notes, Klee’s late works often “oscillate between the cosmic and the intimate,” and this piece embodies that duality: its geometric scaffolding feels at once universal and deeply personal.

Klee at the Bauhaus: Where Pedagogy Met Poetics

By 1929, Paul Klee had spent nearly a decade teaching at the Bauhaus, first in Weimar and later in Dessau. His role as a master in the school’s preliminary course allowed him to codify his theories of form and color into a systematic, if idiosyncratic, pedagogy. In The Current Six Thresholds emerged from this environment, where the demands of modernist functionality coexisted with Klee’s more mystical inclinations. The painting’s structured yet fluid composition reflects the tension between the Bauhaus’s emphasis on craft and his own belief in art as a “creative confession,” as he described it in his lectures.

Unlike his colleagues—such as Wassily Kandinsky, who leaned toward pure abstraction, or László Moholy-Nagy, who embraced industrial materials—Klee remained committed to the handmade. His works from this period often combined the precision of architectural drafting with the spontaneity of watercolor. The layered transparency in Six Thresholds is characteristic: thin glazes of pigment allow underlying forms to bleed through, creating a sense of depth that belies the painting’s modest scale. This technique, which he called “taking a line for a walk,” became a hallmark of his Bauhaus-era output.

Klee’s genius lay in making the abstract feel inevitable. Six Thresholds doesn’t merely arrange shapes—it choreographs them, as if each plane were a note in a silent composition.

The Alchemy of Oil and Water

Layered Transparency

Klee’s method for In The Current Six Thresholds involved building up thin layers of oil paint diluted with turpentine, a technique that mimicked the luminosity of watercolor while retaining the permanence of oils. The result is a surface that seems to glow from within, with lighter hues—pale ochres, soft blues—floating over darker underpainting. This approach allowed him to create a “veil-like” effect, where forms emerge and recede like topographic contours.

Geometric Counterpoint

The composition’s rigid grid is deliberately undermined by irregular, organic shapes that disrupt its symmetry. Klee often spoke of “active” and “passive” elements in his work; here, the sharp angles of the geometric framework play against the fluid, almost biological curves of the central forms. This tension between order and improvisation was central to his Bauhaus teachings, where he encouraged students to balance discipline with intuition.

Where to Hang Six Thresholds: A Curator’s Guide

Klee’s muted palette and linear precision make this print remarkably versatile. In a modern interior, its geometric structure complements minimalist furnishings, while its warm tones—soft umbers, faded blues—pair effortlessly with natural wood or linen textures. For maximum impact, hang it at eye level in a narrow hallway or above a console table, where its vertical orientation can draw the viewer’s gaze upward. The 30×40 cm size is ideal for intimate spaces: a study, a reading nook, or a gallery wall where it can converse with other abstract works. Avoid overly bright walls; the painting’s subtlety shines against matte finishes in neutral tones—think warm whites, soft grays, or even a deep charcoal.

More Works by Paul Klee

Explore Klee’s evolution through these four pivotal works, each reflecting a different facet of his Bauhaus-era innovation.

Paul Klee

Castle And Sun

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Paul Klee

The Light And So Much Else

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Paul Klee

Halme

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Paul Klee

Park Bei Lu

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