Paul Klee Red green and Violet-Yellow Rhythms 1920

Paul Klee 

Red green and Violet-Yellow Rhythms 

1920 

Oil and ink on cardboard 

14 3/4 x 13 1/4 in. (37.5 x 33.7 cm) 

Klee did not embrace abstraction in sheer pursuit of some deep spiritual goal, as did Kandinsky and Mondrian. Instead, as his titles playfully indicate, he just tried to keep reality at bay. When the artist began to work earnestly in oil in 1919, he painted a series of small works, mostly on cardboard, that had as their subject matter magic landscapes or gardens. Here the little fir trees placed on a sort of Cubist ground evoke some enchanted forest.