Paul Klee

The backs of an entire series of works from Klee’s final years are painted over with coloured paste. The layer is visible from the front and serves as the background for the restrained drawings that are characteristic of his late work.

In the years 1938 to 1940, Klee’s artistic output increased enormously. In some years he produced more than 1,000 works. The majority are simple drawings in pencil or pen. Here we see a simplification and focus on a handful of compositional elements.

In some twenty such works, Klee deliberately worked the back to achieve his desired effect on the front. He painted over the back with a mix of coloured paste with caput mortuum – a purple-tinted reddish-brown iron oxide.

The strong red-brown layer on the back creates a subtle pinkish-purple background for the drawings on the front. A few examples of this process can be seen here.