The Kandinsky-Klee house
The house was the home of the artists Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) and Paul Klee (1879-1940) during their Bauhaus years in Dessau.
Walter Gropius had engaged Klee to join the Bauhaus in 1921. Klee initially lectured in theory of forms and later also in painting. Kandinsky
taught at the Bauhaus from 1922 onwards. He was Workshop Master for wall-painting and taught "Analytical drawing" and "Abstract from elements".
The artists and their families lived in the duplex whose multi-color design created special room atmospheres. Kandinsky and Klee designed the
interior of the duplex to meet their own individual preferences, with more than 170 different color shades, and in stark contrast to the
dry, abstract, almost technocratic architecture of the duplexes.
The artists and master-craftsmen of the Bauhaus were driven out by the Nazis, and the Kandinsky-Klee duplex already started undergoing structural alterations in the 1930s. By the 1990s, it was in desperate need of modernization, but nevertheless fascinating parts of the original structure had been preserved. In addition to doors, fittings, and walk-in closets, the original colors of the interior were still in existence or at least recognizable.
HOCHTIEF declared its willingness to shoulder the modernization and donated DM 1 million to the cause in order to make accessible the building–an
irreplaceable piece of art and architectural history–and preserve it for later generations. HOCHTIEF was glad to take on this challenge as part of
its anniversary celebrations. HOCHTIEF started its work as general contractor in early 1998, after some very extensive preparatory inspections had first
been made. The Kandinsky-Klee Master House in Dessau was reopened on February 4, 2000.
Today the highly individual and impressive color scheme of the duplex can be seen again. Unique in the field of Bauhaus architecture, the Kandinsky-Klee Master-House is thus rightly regarded as an internationally significant incunabulum, an example of the earliest beginnings of modern architecture. Moreover, the modernization of Kandinsky's house provides rare insights into the artist's private life.
Further information:
www.meisterhaeuser.de
