Paul Klee paintings: Google Doodle honours hugely influential Swiss artist

Hugely influential Swiss modernist artist Paul Klee has been honoured with today's Google Doodle.

Born 139 years ago today, Klee was influenced by cubism, surrealism and expressionism and considered one of the great innovators of his time.

His influence on abstractionism can be seen in the works of artists such as Rothko and Miró, and he is known to have completed thousands of works.

Klee's extraordinary body of work is also popular among calendar and postcard-buyers, yet little is known about him.

Here's what you need to know about the prolific artist.

Born in Münchenbuchsee to a German music teacher and Swiss singer, Klee studied music in his early years and was an accomplished violinist and member of a symphony orchestra, before he switched to studying art as a teenager.

He kept a diary of all of his works and became affiliated with an influential group of aritists known as Der Blaue Reiter from 1911 to 1914.

Graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich at the turn of the century, Klee later taught at the Bahaus in Weimar, Germany from 1921 to 1931.

The school still uses the Pedagogical Sketchbook he wrote for his students to this day.

He taught there until he was dismissed by the Nazis who condemned the Modernist movement.

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