| Death and Fire | |
| Image Upright: | 1.3 |
| Type: | Oil and coloured paste on burlap[1] |
| Artist: | Paul Klee |
| Year: | 1940 |
| Height Metric: | 43 |
| Width Metric: | 43 |
| Museum: | Zentrum Paul Klee |
| City: | Bern |
Death and Fire, known in German as Tod und Feuer, is an expressionist painting by Paul Klee, from 1940. It is on display at Zentrum Paul Klee, in Bern.
Death and Fire was one of Klee's last paintings, shortly before his death on June 29, 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.[2] His painting during this period tended to be simpler and representative of the suffering he was going through.[3] "Tod", the German word for death, is a common motif throughout this 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".
The painting also represents hieroglyphics, an interest of Klee's during this time,[4] which can also be seen in many of his other late 1930s paintings, such as Insula dulcamara (1938) and Heroic Roses (1938).[3]