Why Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky Were at the Bauhaus

In 1921, the Swiss painter Paul Klee joined the Bauhaus. The following year, in 1922, Wassily Kandinsky, a pioneer of abstract painting from Russia, also joined. Both were already world-renowned artists. Why did they choose to become instructors at a design school? And why did the Bauhaus invite painters to a "design school"?

What Gropius sought: Not "Artists" but "Masters"

The Bauhaus's educational system was unique. Each workshop had two masters: a "Formmeister" (form master) and a "Werkmeister" (craft master). The Werkmeister, as a craftsman, taught materials and techniques, while the Formmeister was responsible for sculptural sensibility and theory.
What Gropius sought in a Formmeister was "someone who could train sensibility." They were educators who could help students develop their own judgment for "form decisions"—what is beautiful and what is not—which cannot be derived from materials or function. Klee and Kandinsky were the best individuals for this role at the time.

Kandinsky's "Grammar of Form"

Kandinsky taught "analytical drawing" and "free painting" at the Bauhaus. However, the content was not merely about how to draw.
What he explored was the "grammar of visual language." What emotional and perceptual effects do points, lines, and planes each have? What laws govern the combination of color and form? Kandinsky systematically researched these questions and compiled his findings into the book 'Point and Line to Plane (Punkt und Linie zu Fläche)' in 1926.
This research was not "a theory for painting." It provided a "conscious basis" for designers when handling form and color. Why does this shape appear calm, why does this color combination create tension? By verbalizing sensation, he aimed to elevate design judgment from "intuition" to "understanding."

Klee's "Pictorial Thinking"

Paul Klee's approach differed from Kandinsky's. He observed the laws of form in nature—the growth of plants, the formation of crystals, the movement of waves—and explored how these interacted with human perception.
At the Bauhaus, Klee was in charge of the stained-glass workshop and later taught theory of form in the weaving workshop. His 'Pedagogical Sketchbook (Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch),' published in 1925, conveys a glimpse of his lessons. A point becomes a line, a line becomes a plane, a plane becomes a solid—he sought to make students understand the "genesis" of form through the process of creation.
"Klee didn't make students paint, he taught them to see," recalled one of his students.

Why were painters at a design school?

The reason Klee and Kandinsky were at the Bauhaus is rooted in the very founding principles of the Bauhaus. When Gropius advocated for the "integration of art and technology," it didn't just mean training "craftsmen who could make beautiful things."
There was an understanding that "form decisions" required training. The ability to "understand" why something is beautiful, rather than just "feeling" that it is beautiful—Gropius believed this could only be refined through the practice of painting and sculpture. That's why he needed to invite the world's best active painters as instructors.
Kandinsky remained at the Bauhaus until its closure by the Nazis in 1933. Klee moved to the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1931 due to health reasons and Nazi pressure, returning to Switzerland the following year. Until his death in Bern in 1940, the "grammar of form" he honed at the Bauhaus continued to live on in his works.
In essence, Klee's and Kandinsky's role at the Bauhaus was not to cultivate artists, but to cultivate the "eye" for designers to judge form and color. This remains a fundamental vocabulary of design education today, permeating the curricula of art and design schools worldwide.

Photo: Photographer unknown / Public Domain. On the rooftop of Bauhaus Dessau in 1926. From left: Stölzl, Schlemmer, Kandinsky, Gropius.

This article is part of the Genealogy of German Design | 100 Years of History Where Function and Beauty Met archive.