"A certain skill in handling sharp pencils and pens and a certain taste in the selection of motifs brought me the recognition of my immediate surroundings." (Paul Klee on his drawings, quoted in Jürgen Glaesemer, Paul Klee: Handzeichnungen, vol. I, Bern 1973, p. 19). In retrospect, Klee looked back with pride on his early drawings from the Bern years before presenting them to the Munich Academy and his future teacher Heinrich Knirr in October 1898, who "did not want to give them back at all". (Klee to Hans Bloesch, November 20, 1898, quoted from ibid., p. 25). Klee's sense of subtle details was already evident early on in the Swiss landscapes, before he achieved his status as an important artist who attached great importance to the line. The precise topographical designation, dating and signature already express the self-image of the 16-year-old artist. [FE]