ProvenioArt Intelligence
Sign InExplore
weimar republicconcept:era modern

Angelus Novus

Ink, chalk, and watercolor on paper (1920) by Paul Klee. Purchased by philosopher Walter Benjamin in 1921; the subject of his famous 'angel of history' reading in 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' (1940). The image of a gaping-faced angel blown backward by the storm of progress became one of the most philosophically resonant artworks of the 20th century.

Scholarly Significance

Paul Klee's Angelus Novus (1920), purchased by philosopher Walter Benjamin, became the most philosophically cited artwork of the 20th century through Benjamin's 'angel of history' reading in Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940).

Notes

  • ·Purchased by Walter Benjamin from dealer Hans Goltz's Munich gallery in 1921 for 1,000 marks.
  • ·Benjamin hung the work in his various residences and carried it into exile.
  • ·In his final text, 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' (1940), Benjamin used the image to articulate his philosophy of history: 'A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating... the angel of history... His face is turned toward the past... a storm... is blowing him into the future to which his back is turned.'
  • ·Benjamin died at Portbou, Spain on 26 September 1940; the painting passed to his friend Theodor Adorno and then to Gershom Scholem.
  • ·Scholem bequeathed it to the Israel Museum, where it is now one of the most visited works.
  • ·The work has been cited, reproduced, and interpreted in philosophy (Derrida, Agamben), literature, and art more than almost any other work of its period.