Queen of Hearts 1921

Paul Klee pulled this print of Queen of Hearts in 1921 using black ink. I can imagine him, carefully placing the paper over the block and rubbing, the image gradually emerging. The Queen of Hearts is a tangle of lines, shapes, and textures. Klee’s got a great sense of humor, right? I bet he was chuckling to himself as he made this. The heart itself is kind of droopy and sad, and she’s trapped in this linear cage with that weird snail-like hairdo. You can see the influence of cubism and surrealism here, but Klee's got his own thing going on. He's like a jazz musician improvising on a theme. Klee’s work reminds me that painting is really about exploring the world through mark-making, and the conversation just keeps on going.