On the same day in March 1916 that 36-year-old Paul Klee (1879-1940) received his red slip notifying him of his conscription into the German army, a telegram arrived announcing that his close friend and fellow artist, Franz Marc (1880-1916), had been killed by a grenade at the Battle of Verdun. Klee and Marc held opposing views about the war; Marc actively supported it, but Klee was indifferent to Marc's war: it did not affect him internally; the real war was already within himself. His friend's death was a time for soul searching and reflecting on their differences in personality and style. Contrasting himself to Marc, he wrote:

He is more human, he loves more warmly, is more demonstrative. . . . He was still a real member of the human race, not a neutral creature. What my art . . . [Full Text of this Article]