I have now reached the point where I can look over the great art of antiquity and its Renaissance. But, for myself, I cannot find any artistic connec… - Paul Klee

Την άνοιξη του 1901 έβαλα το εξής πρόγραμμα:
Υπεράνω όλων η τέχνη της ζωής. Κατόπιν, ως ιδανικό επάγγελμα: η ποιητική τέχνη και η φιλοσοφία -ως πραγματικό επάγγελμα: οι πλαστικές τέχνες -και τέλος, ελλείψει πόρων ή εισοδημάτων: η τέχνη της εικονογράφησης.

- Paul Klee, “Τα ημερολόγια 1898-1918” (τ. Α)

We document, explain, justify, construct, organize: these are good things, but we do not succeed in coming to the whole.. .But we may as well calm down: construction is not absolute. Our virtue is this: by cultivating the exact we have laid the foundations for a science of art, including the unknown X.

Simple motion strikes us as banal. The time element must be eliminated. Yesterday and tomorrow as simultaneous. In music, polyphony helped to some extent to satisfy this need. A quintet as in 'Don Giovanni' is closer to us than the epic motion in 'Tristan [und Isolde]'. Mozart and Bach are more modern than the [music of the] nineteenth century.