“Animal Friendship” (1930), by Paul Klee

Paul Klee · 1930-01-01T00:00:00Z

“Tier Freund Schaft (Amistad animal)”  (1930), commonly translated as  “Animal Friendship,”  by  Paul Klee  is a delicate and whimsical work that reflects the artist’s fascination with symbolic forms, color harmony, and the poetic relationship between humans and animals. Rendered in Klee’s characteristic style—combining abstraction with childlike simplicity—the composition suggests a quiet, almost dreamlike connection between creatures, emphasizing empathy and coexistence. The piece exemplifies Klee’s Bauhaus-era explorations, where visual language becomes a means of expressing inner states and universal themes rather than literal representation. Public Domain Status: Paul Klee died in 1940. His works entered the public domain in countries applying a  life + 70 years  copyright term on January 1, 2011. As of today,  “Animal Friendship”  is in the public domain in many jurisdictions worldwide, including the European Union. In the United States, however, works published in 1930 are in the public domain as of 2026, meaning this artwork is now also in the public domain there. Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons at:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tier_Freund_Schaft_(Amistad_animal)._Paul_Klee.jpg