Two men meet, each believing the other to be of higher rank, 1903
Paul Klee's «Zwei Männer, einander in höherer Stellung vermutend, begegnen sich», 1903,[Two men meet, each believing the other to be of higher rank] is part of a group of works known as the «Inventionen» [Inventions], eleven etchings from the years 1903 to 1905, whose meticulous technique and detailed, relief-like composition is reminiscent of drawings by the Old Masters.
In his diary, Klee described the «Inventionen» as «opus I» - and called them the first fully valid examples of his individual artistic production. Inspired by artists such as Francisco de Goya and Honoré Daumier, Klee used his «Inventionen» to explore man's domination by his physical urges and how it becomes twisted by bourgeois sexual morals. «Zwei Männer, einander in höherer Stellung vermutend, begegnen sich», 1903, [Two men meet, each believing the other to be of higher rank] is kind of a political and socio-critical nature.
