He studied at the Munich Art Academy and settled that after his wedding. From 1912 onwards he was a close friend of Wassily Kandinsky and they both took part in the exhibition ‘The Blue Rider’. Not only the French artists from Cézanne to Picasso, but also his travels to distant lands such as his 1914 trip to Tunisia together with August Macke and Louis Moilliet are decisive for his fantastic, spun and sometimes magically playful works. After that, he began to discover painting in all its color variety and nuance.

In 1920 he was appointed to the Bauhaus in Weimer (from 1925 in Dessau) where he taught until 1931. After the National Socialists took power in 1933 he was cited as a ‘degenerate artist’ and ‘politically disaffected’ and was removed from his post without notice, upon which he returned to Bern. He died in 1940 in Muralto. His drawings, graphic works and paintings are in the largest and most prestigious museums worldwide. Since 2005, the Paul Klee Centre in Bern has exclusively dedicated itself to dealing with the artist’s work.