The Angel of History

The angel of history comes from a work of art called Angel Novus or Angelus Novus that is by Paul Klee, which I recommend you look up. The image depicts an angel with its wings up and it is clearly looking at something kind of off to the right of the viewer. Now they are moving through time. This angel is moving through time while looking backwards. They're like sitting in the backseat of a car looking out the back window as the car moves forward. But this isn't a neat image of history. Instead what they see what this angel sees because it's an angel. It's a, you know, it's an all-knowing creature. And