The Drummer is one of Klee’s final paintings before his death in 1940. It represents the culmination of a series of what is known to be five images of his exploration of the drum motif. It is believed that The Drummer serves as a visual metaphor for death, recalling its role in Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor, K. 626, which the composer left unfinished on his deathbed. Klee had heard the piece performed while he was living in Dessau several years earlier. In a letter to his wife, he proclaimed, “The work is good even where Mozart’s hand is missing…But undoubtedly Mozart himself would have pushed it forward to some further development.”

The Drummer also breaks the monochromatic variations on the motif in the earlier parts of the series as this work combines thick black lines overlaid on large red brush strokes. Additionally, Klee’s use of upward and downward thrusts of the mallets against the drum is symbolized by where each circle is located across. And, at the top, Klee playfully inscribed an eye within the arched line and black dot that denotes the fermata (musical sign to indicate a pause). A pause in play to denote the suggestion of finality.