Signs In Yellow 1937

Here we have Paul Klee’s ‘Signs In Yellow’, a little puzzle made with paint. Klee’s laying down these gorgeous, muted yellows and tans, and it's clear that artmaking for him was a process of discovery, an opportunity to play with color and form. The materiality of the painting is really something: the canvas texture peeks through, giving it a grounded, earthy feel. The paint isn't trying to hide anything; it embraces the imperfections. Look at the individual squares, and the way that some of the grounds seem to glow from within, while others feel a little flat, like a conversation. And those black, enigmatic symbols floating in the yellow like musical notes – they look like alphabets from another planet, or perhaps just Klee having a laugh and making his own rules. For me, Klee always feels like a close cousin of Joan Miró, both creating their own languages, mixing abstraction and figuration in a really distinctive way.