Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, two of the most influential figures in the modernist movement, are the subject of this illuminating book that opens a dialogue between their work, friendship, and influence on each other. Klee and Kandinsky were towering figures of the modernist movement and were close, both as friends and artists. For a time<br>they lived next door to one another, and exchanged their artistic<br>ideas on a daily basis. This unique book explores their 30-year<br>relationship, from the time of the Blue Rider group around 1912,<br>to the Bauhaus years in Weimar and Dessau until the late 1930s.<br>With the culture of the Weimar Republic as a backdrop, this book<br>traces the eventful history of an artistic friendship. Kandinsky's<br>idealism is juxtaposed with Klee's irony, and we learn that their<br>relationship was characterized in equal measure by friendship<br>and competitiveness, mutual influence and the need to establish<br>distance. The focus is on the artistic dialogue they enacted<br>through their art. They were joined by an aspiration to spiritualize<br>art and explore its intrinsic laws. At the same time, Kandinsky's<br>commitment to abstraction contrasted strongly with Klee's<br>allegiance to natural models.