Klee was discharged from military service in December, 1918 and in early 1919 he rented a studio in the Suresnes Castle in Munich. In April leftists took power in the city and Klee joined the Action Committee of Revolutionary Artists headed by Hans Richter. Within a couple of months, however, the right-wing Freikorps seized control and initiated widespread purges of those who had been sympathetic to progressive causes. Fearing for his life, Klee fled to Switzerland in June, 1919.

The anxieties generated by the calamitous events during this difficult and dangerous year find expression in this picture.

Viewed superficially the pictures of 1919 are
combinations of planes remotely reminiscent of
analytical Cubism. Actually, however, they are
based on a translucent network of straight lines
which intersect at right or acute angles and
produce a structure of planes. The "story," if
it exists at all, is worked in and expands the
facts by including fate in the composition.
Klee's attitude is existentialist in that he
repeatedly faces the void, re-creates the
universe, and accepts fate, represented by houses,
windows, trees, and stars, rarely by animals or
human beings. (W. Grohmann, Paul Klee,
London, 1954, pp. 152 and 159)

Other compositions from 1919 have been recorded without titles. Some, like the present work, contain rich and complex imagery. Indeed, the fullness of this composition and its dark and haunting character imply a theme or themes which may have discouraged the artist's usual practice of appending a lyrical or whimsical title.

A photo-certificate from Josef Helfenstein and Stefan Frey of the Paul Klee-Stiftung accompanies this watercolor.