Flora on rocks Sun 1940

Paul Klee made this painting, Flora on rocks Sun, with oil, using a warm palette of reds and oranges that vibrate against black gestural marks. I can imagine Klee in his studio, slowly building up these layers, waiting for the perfect moment to introduce those decisive, dark lines. What’s so cool about painting is that it’s a record of a performance. You see the artist thinking, correcting, and revising their ideas through color, texture, and form. In this work, the brushwork is so thin and dry, that it allows for a sense of depth. The sun-like form with radiating lines, a simple but powerful motif, feels playful and almost like a childlike scribble. Klee’s ability to blend abstraction with figuration reminds me of Miró, whose biomorphic shapes and whimsical compositions invite the viewer into a world of imagination and dreams. The push and pull that occurs in paintings opens up a space of possibility, where we can project our own meanings, memories, and feelings.