Grüne Pflanzen Blutlaus (Green Plant-Blood-Louse) 1924

Paul Klee made ‘Green Plant-Blood-Louse’ on a sheet with watercolor and ink. Look at these translucent washes of color and quirky lines – they have such a light touch. I imagine Klee, almost weightless, bending over the paper. The painting feels like a diagram of some strange, unknown biology or like he's peering into a microscope, mapping the universe. There's this green creature, maybe the blood-louse itself, perched precariously on what looks like a branch, but it could also be a vein. It’s like, what is it feeding on? Is it symbiotic or parasitic? Klee always had this incredible ability to make the unseen visible. It’s like he’s in conversation with other artists who use a similar kind of symbolic language, like Hilma af Klint, or Agnes Pelton. What’s so interesting is that they show us that painting can be this form of thinking, imagining, and feeling, all rolled into one.