Consummation, Consummation (plate facing page 86) from Potsdamer Platz oder Die Nächte des neuen Messias. Ekstatische Visionen (Potsdamer Platz or The Nights of the New Messiah. Ecstatic Visions)

Consummation, Consummation (plate facing page 86) from Potsdamer Platz oder Die Nächte des neuen Messias. Ekstatische Visionen (Potsdamer Platz or The Nights of the New Messiah. Ecstatic Visions) is a crucial graphic work created by Paul Klee in 1919. This image is one of ten offset lithograph reproductions that together form an illustrated book. The selection of offset lithography as the medium allowed for a crisp, reproducible style, enabling the dissemination of Klee’s stark and expressive linear explorations during the immediate postwar period. Classified as an illustrated book, this publication marks a specific inflection point in the artist's engagement with German Expressionism and abstraction.

The collection, published in Germany, encapsulates the psychological and cultural upheaval defining the period following World War I. Klee often utilized black-and-white graphic media at this time to translate intense personal visions into widely accessible artistic statements. The overarching title contrasts the modern urban setting of Potsdamer Platz with the spiritual intensity referenced in the subtitle, Ekstatische Visionen. The specific plate, Consummation, Consummation, reflects the artist’s use of simplified, almost hieroglyphic forms to depict profound emotional or mythological events. This approach aligns the work with the broader shift in German art during 1919 toward highly charged, emotionally resonant content.

This piece demonstrates Klee’s foundational skill as a draftsman and his movement away from earlier figurative styles toward the experimental geometry and evocative lines that would characterize his mature output. While often recognized for his use of color, the graphic impact of Klee’s prints from this era is immense. The original publication, appearing when the illustrated book served as a vital vehicle for the avant-garde, remains a key historical document of early German modernism. This specific plate is part of the distinguished collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Today, as a work in the public domain, these seminal prints continue to be studied globally for their historical and artistic significance.