Summer houses 1919

Paul Klee's 'Summer Houses' is this little gem of a painting, a tapestry of muted earth tones punctuated by sharp, dark lines. I can imagine Klee, squinting at the scene through half-closed eyes, trying to grasp the essence of place rather than its precise details. It's like he's building the scene from memory, letting the act of painting conjure up the summer. He is interested in the way we register a memory rather than the memory itself. The white paint around the houses feels like a memory, half-formed and fleeting. The dark strokes confidently assert the structure, while the soft, textured background lets the whole scene breathe. You could imagine it being part of a dialogue with other artists like Kandinsky, who were also exploring the spiritual in art, or maybe even Guston with his playful, cartoon-like forms, all trying to make sense of the world through colour and form. We are forever responding to the conversation other painters have started!