Instruments 1938

Paul Klee made "Instruments" with paint, layering colors in a way that feels almost like watercolor. The way he builds up the background, those strokes of blues, yellows, and browns, it’s all about the process, about how one layer speaks to the next. Up close, you see how the black lines and shapes sit on top, kind of floating. They feel like symbols, or maybe musical notes, scattered across a stage. The paint isn't thick, but it's got a real surface, those blended color washes. There’s this one long horizontal mark, almost like a body with a swooping tail on one side and a curly head on the other, it anchors the whole piece. It’s like a melody line, and everything else is just riffing off it. Klee reminds me of Miró, both playing with this language of signs and letting the paint do its own thing. Art is an ongoing conversation, not a fixed statement.