Paul Klee was born in Bern, Switzerland in 1879 to German parents who enjoyed music. He began playing the violin at age 7 but later decided to focus on painting instead. He studied painting in Munich, Germany and traveled through Italy and France where he was exposed to both ancient and modern art. In 1906, at age 27, he married a pianist named Lili. He began painting fantastical, distorted figures and shapes that represented a caricature style. In 1911 he met abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky and they exhibited paintings together. For Klee, lines were initially very important but after a trip to Tunisia, color became more significant. From 1920-1930 he taught painting at the influential Bauhaus school