Cat and Bird

Cat and Bird is a signature work by Paul Klee, executed in 1928. This painting combines oil and ink on gessoed canvas, a composite material structure that is mounted on wood, showcasing the artist’s characteristic experimentation with texture and line. Created during Klee’s tenure as a master at the influential Bauhaus school, the piece reflects the sophisticated abstract vocabulary emerging from the German art scene in the late 1920s. The work is a prime example of Klee’s ability to imbue simplified forms with psychological depth.

Klee often utilized layered media to achieve luminosity and visual depth, and here, the gessoed surface provides a subtle, warm ground for the delicate application of oil color and the precise geometry defined by ink lines. The composition presents an abstracted, almost schematic rendering of a cat’s head. Dominating the upper center of the face is a stylized red triangle, clearly representing a bird-like shape or perhaps the cat’s desired prey, symbolically suspended over the animal's watchful eyes. The contrast between the animal’s simplified structure and the vivid, centralized red form creates an intentional visual and psychological tension, moving the piece beyond simple representation toward symbolic abstraction.

This painting exemplifies Klee’s mastery of small-scale, intimately structured compositions developed during his most productive years. Its integration of color theory and expressive, graphic line work paralleled the progressive aesthetic goals of modern German art movements of the era. The canvas currently resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where it stands as a cornerstone of their modern European holdings. The lasting appeal of this iconic image means that high-quality prints and reproductions are widely circulated, ensuring Klee’s imaginative approach remains accessible to a broad audience, often through public domain initiatives.