Before the Town 1915

Editor: This is "Before the Town," a watercolor piece by Paul Klee, created in 1915. It’s quite striking; these blocks of colour feel like both a cityscape and some kind of abstract emotional landscape. What do you make of it? Curator: Klee was, if anything, a playful wanderer across the boundaries of the seen and unseen. Doesn't it seem like he's capturing the sensation of approaching a place? The way a town slowly coalesces from a collection of shapes and colours? It's almost like visual synesthesia, where colours become feelings. The verticality also feels like a kind of growth, or striving…What feeling does it evoke in you? Editor: A sense of anticipation, definitely, but also maybe a little unease? It's not quite grounded; everything feels like it’s floating. Curator: Exactly! I find that feeling so resonant; that anticipatory disquiet we all experience when we head toward the unknown. And isn't it intriguing how the ‘town’ never quite resolves? It's always “before,” always in a state of becoming. It's all watercolor too – it dissolves like thoughts, mirages. Editor: It’s amazing how much he can convey with such simple shapes and colors. So, do you think Klee wanted to illustrate a real town or capture an emotion? Curator: Oh, darling, Klee wasn’t interested in either/or! He lived in the magical ‘and.’ He understood that emotion *is* landscape, and landscape *is* emotion, especially when viewed through the playful lens of the artist. Editor: That’s such a helpful way of thinking about it! It almost feels like I'm ready to get my paints out. Curator: Indeed! That, my dear, is the most any artwork can aspire to inspire: creative wanderlust.