Paul Klee
Suburb, 1913
Watercolour on paper on cardboard, 9,6/10 x 22,3/22,7 cm
Private Collection, Switzerland, Held at the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
This watercolour by Paul Klee shows little of the suburb that gives the painting its title. In comparison to the image of the village church from his youth, the motif is highly simplified, with an emphasis on certain elements. The small work consists entirely of colour. Even the outlines of the houses and their windows are rendered in colour. Applied in free, loose strokes, these colours correspond to those in the background. Klee paints the houses over the green of the foreground and the blue of the sky, as if they were transparent. The architecture remains flat – he did not try to convey spatial depth. Instead, he sought to render a sketchy scene in which the subject almost melts into the atmosphere.