Lily Klee (born Karoline Sophie Elisabeth Stumpf; 10 October 1876 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

– 22 September 1946

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

) was a German piano teacher, wife of painter

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, and mother to theatrical director .

Life

Lily Stumpf was the daughter of a doctor and medical officer of health, Ludwig Stumpf (1846–1923) and his wife Marie-Anna Pohle. Among other sources, she received her musical training from

Ludwig Thuille Ludwig Wilhelm Andreas Maria Thuille (Bolzano, Bozen, 30 November 1861 – 5 February 1907) was an Austrian composer and teacher, numbered for a while among the leading operatic composers of the so-called Munich School of composers, whose most fam ...

. She met violinist and painter

at a

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

soirée in 1899. They became engaged in 1901, after he had had several love affairs with other women. Despite her father's opposition, she and the artist were finally married in

on 15 September 1906. Together they furnished a home in Munich and built Paul's studio in a garden shed. They had their first and only child,

Felix Klee Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

on 30 November 1907. While Paul raised their son, painted, and cooked, Lily generated their income by working as a piano teacher. Both Lily and Paul maintained many friendships with other artists and Lily's letters and writings provide insight into the lives of art world contemporaries. When

was drafted into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Lily ensured that he was assigned to a post behind the lines. During that time, she continued to earn her family's income as a chamber musician and piano teacher in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. It was only after her husband's employment at the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

in 1921 that it was possible for her to focus more on her health, which had suffered over the previous years. During the Nazi era, she arranged for her family's emigration to Switzerland in 1933. Shortly after, Paul fell ill with a disease undiagnosed at the time or for many years after his death. The letters between Lily and friends, doctors, and medical experts have allowed researchers to piece together many details about the progression of his illness. After her husband's death in 1940, she arranged for an honorary commission to administrate his artistic estate, assigning it to public collections in Switzerland. When her son Felix Klee returned from soviet captivity on 16 September 1946, she suffered a stroke of "joyful excitement" at his homecoming, and died a few days later on 22 September.Beate Ofczarek, Stefan Frey: ''Chronologie einer Freundschaft''. In: Michael Baumgartner, Cathrin Klingsöhr-Leroy, Katja Schneider (Hrsg.): ''Franz Marc. Paul Klee. Dialog in Bildern'', Ausstellungskatalog. Nimbus, Wädenswil 2010, ISBN 978-3-907142-50-9, S. 224 f.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klee, Lily 1876 births 1946 deaths German women Paul Klee