Yet Berlin, Our Citadel, Experienced a Suddent Ten-Fold Increase of Its Citizens (plate facing page 58) from Potsdamer Platz oder Die Nächte des neuen Messias. Ekstatische Visionen (Potsdamer Platz or The Nights of the New Messiah. Ecstatic Visions)

Yet Berlin, Our Citadel, Experienced a Suddent Ten-Fold Increase of Its Citizens (plate facing page 58) 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 graphic work created by Paul Klee in 1919. This piece is one of ten offset lithograph reproductions contained within the influential German illustrated book. The period of 1919 marked a time of profound political and social turmoil in Germany, coinciding with the rise of the Weimar Republic. This cultural instability often fueled intense creativity among avant-garde artists seeking new forms to reflect the fractured national psyche.

Klee’s choice of the illustrated book format provided a powerful vehicle for exploring themes of urban chaos, societal destruction, and the search for a spiritual or political savior, as suggested by the subtitle, The Nights of the New Messiah. The specific image, Yet Berlin, Our Citadel..., captures the overwhelming sense of rapid, unmanageable change and population influx experienced in the titular city. Klee, whose style was rapidly developing toward abstraction, utilized the linear, graphic capabilities of the offset lithography medium to convey the frantic, sometimes apocalyptic, atmosphere of the era.

The production of Potsdamer Platz oder Die Nächte des neuen Messias occurred just before Klee joined the faculty of the Bauhaus, and the series of prints demonstrates his early engagement with graphic media intended for broader consumption. The stark contrasts and compressed, symbolic space visible in the plate are hallmarks of Klee's exploration of symbolic form during this pivotal phase of his career. The creation of such prints was integral to the distribution of challenging new art forms to the public, setting precedents for later mass-produced editions and ensuring that these historically resonant images remain relevant. This work of German graphic art is preserved in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where it offers critical insight into Klee's immediate post-war output.