Bildnis eines Asiaten 1924

Paul Klee made this face, "Bildnis eines Asiaten", with delicate lines of watercolor and ink, kinda floating on a deep blue ground. It’s like he conjured this being, line by line. I can imagine Klee, in his studio, just letting the pen wander, building up this almost see-through face. Those eyes, like red planets, staring out from a constellation of lines! What was he thinking? Was he lost in thought about some far-off place, some inner world? I wonder if he was also thinking about Picasso or Matisse, and how to make a face that was all feeling, all dream. It’s thin paint, washy, but those lines are so precise, almost architectural. That one line looping down from the nose to form the lip – it’s so simple but gives the whole face this quirky seriousness. It's like a map of the imagination. We're all just borrowing and stealing from each other, making new things from old dreams. It reminds me that painting isn’t about answers but about this ongoing conversation.