Paul Klee

In the years before his death in 1940, Klee produced numerous drawings and watercolours on semi-transparent media. In many cases the lines on both sides align. In addition to the compositional link, there is often a thematic connection between front and back.

In the drawing It Comes over me (1938), the contours of a bare-breasted woman with S-shaped ears lying on her side drawn on the back can clearly be seen. The ears and noses of the figures on both sides line up precisely. The line of the arm propping up the figure on the front retraces the inner line of the bent upper arm of the figure on the back. It Comes over me? Does the “coming over” of the title perhaps have something to do with the beauty depicted in the background?

The bright and cheerful watercolour Pondering (1939) depicts a face with pensive, downcast eyes. Only the face is recognisable; the rest of the composition is comprised solely of abstract fields of colour. On the back of this work, another figure can be seen. It has angel wings and its eyes are closed. This suggests that this hidden figure originally represented the state of “pondering”, while the open eyes on the front could be read as being more representative of emerged understanding.

The title of Urchs, Undecided (1939) also acquires a new meaning when the drawing on the back is taken into consideration: it depicts another “Urchs” – an “ur-” or primitive ox. The lines of the bodies of the “Urchs” are aligned, almost making them into a single entity. Yet the figure on the back is looking in the opposite direction! It seems that the “undecided Urchs” is unsure which way to turn. Instead, it remains in a state of indecision.