Focus on this artwork and explore the Meaning and History.
Death and Fire was one of Klee's last paintings before his death on June 29th, 1940. In 1935 Klee started to suffer from scleroderma, which manifested itself with fatigue, skin rashes, difficulty in swallowing, shortness of breath and pain in the joints of his hands. Paintings during this period tended to be simpler and representative of the suffering he was going through. "Tod", the German word for death, is a common motif throughout the painting. It can be seen most distinctly in the features of the face, though the "d" and "t" are rotated. The word can also be seen in the figure's raised arm as the "T", the yellow orb as the "O", and the figure's head (or torso) as the "D".
scleroderma Death