The End of the Last Act of a Drama (Schluss des letzten Aktes eines Dramas)

The End of the Last Act of a Drama (Schluss des letzten Aktes eines Dramas) by Paul Klee is a foundational example of the artist's experimental and sophisticated graphic style, executed during the pivotal year of 1920. Classified formally as a drawing, this complex German work utilizes a highly inventive mixed-media technique: oil transfer drawing, augmented by precise applications of watercolor and ink on paper, and finally mounted with a meticulous ink border on board.

This technique allowed Klee to achieve a distinctive, vibrating line quality and granular texture that blurred the boundaries between drawing and painting. The work’s title imparts a sense of finality or narrative collapse, which Klee translates into a field of fragmented geometric and linear structures. These abstract elements reflect the socio-political fragmentation of the post-World War I era, concurrent with the rise of modernism in German culture. The piece, created just prior to Klee’s tenure at the Bauhaus, demonstrates his deep understanding of color theory and symbolic arrangement, transforming simple ink lines into dramatic, weight-bearing forms.

The small scale and intense concentration of detail in this 1920 composition invite close observation, highlighting Klee's systematic yet poetic approach to abstraction. The End of the Last Act of a Drama remains a critical piece for understanding the evolution of Klee’s output, bridging his early, expressive works with his later, highly systematized pedagogical methods. This essential drawing is housed in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where it contributes to one of the world’s foremost collections of modern art. Today, the enduring influence of Klee’s innovative graphic work is recognized globally, and high-quality prints of many of his drawings are increasingly accessible through public domain collections.