Paul Klee · 1922

Twittering Machine

Posters from $15.00 CAD · Canvas from $39.00 CAD

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Four mechanical birds perched on a hand-cranked wire, beaks open in song. Klee's whimsical satire of mechanised art. MoMA, New York.

Up to 7 × 10 in · portrait

Size

Larger sizes are unavailable for this painting because the source scan's resolution wouldn't print at gallery quality.

Format & finish

Archival cotton canvas stretched over a wooden frame. Ready to hang as-is. No external frame.

Scale next to a 5'10" person

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Hand-printed in Ottawa

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Materials & quality

›Canvas & inks

Giclée-printed on archival cotton canvas with fade-resistant pigment inks, hand-stretched over wooden bars. Gallery-wrapped — ready to hang with no extra frame needed.

›Floater frame

Hand-finished solid wood floater frame in five finishes. The canvas sits inside with a clean shadow gap — the way galleries hang contemporary canvas.

›Posters

Premium archival paper — 200 gsm soft matte or 230 gsm vibrant glossy. Ships flat or rolled, ready for your own frame.

›Faithful to the source

Printed from the highest-resolution museum and archive scans available. Each painting's maximum size is capped at what its source scan can support at gallery quality.

About this painting

The story of Twittering Machine

Twittering Machine is a 1922 watercolor with gouache, pen-and-ink, and oil transfer on paper by Swiss-German painter Paul Klee. Like other artworks by Klee, it blends biology and machinery, depicting a loosely sketched group of birds on a wire or branch connected to a hand-crank. Interpretations of the work vary widely: it has been perceived as a nightmarish lure for the viewer or a depiction of the helplessness of the artist, but also as a triumph of nature over mechanical pursuits. It has been seen as a visual representation of the mechanics of sound.

Adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the artist

Paul Klee

Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.

All Paul Klee prints →

Biography adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Frequently asked

Twittering Machine— questions & answers

›What does the Twittering Machine represent?

It depicts a loosely sketched group of mechanical birds on a wire connected to a hand-crank, blending biology and machinery as Klee often did. Interpretations vary widely — from a nightmarish lure for the viewer to a triumph of nature over mechanical pursuits, or even a visual representation of the mechanics of sound.

›When was the Twittering Machine made?

Paul Klee made it in 1922 using watercolor with gouache, pen-and-ink, and oil transfer on paper.

›Where is Klee's Twittering Machine?

The original is held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Pairs well with