Klee made Angelus Novus in 1920 using his signature oil-transfer technique. After coating a sheet of paper with black oil paint, he used an etching needle to transfer the dry paint onto a second sheet of paper, thereby creating a drawing that he painted over with watercolour.<\/p>\n
A year later, the work was purchased by the German Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin. The two men\u2019s lives had striking parallels. When the Third Reich rose to power in 1933, Benjamin fled to France and Klee to Switzerland, the country of his birth. In 1940, Benjamin killed himself when he faced deportation in Spain, three months after Klee had died from complications of scleroderma.<\/p>\n
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Installation view of Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds at the Jewish Museum, New York Photo by Kris Graves Projects\/Julian Calero<\/p>\n
Angelus Novus was Benjamin\u2019s most prized possession, and his dark interpretation of the roughly A4-size work would ultimately cement its legacy. In an essay written in his final year, Benjamin described the figure as an \u201cangel of history\u201d who stares back in helpless horror at the growing wreckage of the past as the storm of progress \u201cirresistibly propels him into the future\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since 1987, Angelus Novus has been owned by the Israel Museum, where it is stored under strict climate conditions. It was last exhibited in The Angel of History<\/a>, a 2025 show at the Bode-Museum in Berlin.<\/p>\n Although the work was created by Klee after the First World War and interpreted by Benjamin during the Second, its association with the human propensity for destruction continues to resonate today. Neville Rowley, a Bode-Museum curator, told The New York Times<\/a> in 2025: \u201cThere\u2019s a permanence of this vision of history as a succession of catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n Ironically, the exhibition copy now on view at the Jewish Museum is an example of mechanically reproduced works, which Benjamin famously criticised as lacking the \u201caura\u201d or \u201cunique existence\u201d of the original.<\/p>\n The ongoing war in the Middle East has impacted other shipments and exhibitions in the region. When US and Israeli forces launched their war on Iran at the end of February, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art postponed two forthcoming shows indefinitely\u2014on Tom Wesselmann and post-1940 Jewish art\u2014along with canceling related shipments from New York and Vienna. Three works could not be returned to the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal for a Carl Grossberg exhibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Dubai, the international art fair Art Dubai has been postponed<\/a> from April to May, as has the group show Global Positioning System<\/a> at the Jameel Arts Centre. \u201cWe feel spaces like our centres play a crucial role during moments of uncertainty,\u201d Art Jameel director Antonia Carver tells The Art Newspaper, \u201cand believe museums are vital platforms for artists\u2019 voices and spaces for reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n