Why did Paul Klee turn to caricature in his early artwork?

Paul Klee turned to caricature in his early career as a way to express his generally sardonic attitude toward people and institutions. Following a trip to Italy, Klee became disillusioned with the imitative styles of his teachers and his own previous work, leading him to rely on his natural talent for caricature as a foundational element of his artistic practice.1

This approach allowed him to create grotesque allegories that critiqued social pretension, the nature of human failure, and the complexities of social life. These early efforts, such as his Inventions series, established a style that would later evolve into his signature union of the farcical and the sublime.1