Higher, Fading Away (plate facing page 88) from Potsdamer Platz oder Die Nächte des neuen Messias. Ekstatische Visionen (Potsdamer Platz or The Nights of the New Messiah. Ecstatic Visions)

Higher, Fading Away (plate facing page 88) from Potsdamer Platz oder Die Nächte des neuen Messias. Ekstatische Visionen (Potsdamer Platz or The Nights of the New Messiah. Ecstatic Visions) is a key work by Paul Klee, created in 1919. This piece is classified as one from an illustrated book, containing ten offset lithograph reproductions. The publication, whose German title translates roughly to Potsdamer Platz or The Nights of the New Messiah: Ecstatic Visions, captures the frenetic energy and spiritual searching characteristic of European art immediately following the conclusion of World War I.

The period of 1919 was deeply impactful for German artists, who were grappling with the intense political and social upheaval that defined the Weimar Republic’s early years. Klee, while developing his own unique path toward geometric abstraction, contributed this sequence of prints to explore ecstatic, often chaotic, psychological states related to rapidly modernizing urban life and the search for spiritual revelation. The visual language of Higher, Fading Away employs sparse, dynamic lines and forms that suggest complex movement and ethereal ascent. This deliberate economy of form is characteristic of Klee's emerging commitment to abstraction, where simplified structure conveys internal realities rather than literal observations of the physical world.

As an offset lithograph, the medium allowed for the efficient dissemination of Klee's visionary concepts across the burgeoning German art scene of the time. While originally created as part of a limited edition illustrated book, the significance of this suite has ensured its preservation. Today, the work is classified under the Illustrated Book category and resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), recognizing its importance in the development of modern abstraction. The artistic legacy of these original prints continues, with many reproductions now widely accessible through public domain archives and digital collections.