Der Sauerbaum 1939

Paul Klee, sometime in the first half of the 20th century, made "Der Sauerbaum" with watercolor on paper, so it's likely he was working on a table. The wispy quality of this painting reminds me of Cy Twombly, but the line in Klee’s work is different; it loops and curls gently, like a sweet, simple melody. You can see, in this painting, a conversation between thin washes and dark outlines; this is a key conversation for painting as it moves into abstraction. Imagine Klee, leaning over the work, moving the brush slowly but deliberately. The texture of the paper, the way the pigment blooms and settles. He might be thinking about how the colors blend and interact, almost like a conversation between different voices, each with its own distinct character and tone. The result is a work that feels deeply personal and alive, as if it’s still in the process of becoming. Painting is like that: constantly shifting and changing, full of possibilities and open to interpretation.