Cesar Klein: Bild Raum Bühne

Painting and mosaic, illustration, furniture and interior design, stage sets, and more were all part of the creative repertoire of the German polymath Cesar Klein (1876-1954), whom the Bröhan Museum is honoring with a comprehensive exhibition on the occasion of his 150th birthday. The exhibition catalog sheds light on Klein's rise as an active member of the avant-garde, a successful Expressionist film set and stage designer, and an esteemed teacher and friend to contemporaries such as Max Pechstein and Walter Gropius. 1937 marked a decisive turning point: Klein lost his professorship, followed by a ban on painting, his denunciation as a "degenerate artist," and a retreat into "inner exile." His late work suggests a new beginning-defined by mythological imagery, intense color, and a sense of musicality.