Paul Klee
(Elfenau) Early Spring, 1898
Pencil on paper on cardboard, 8,5 x 12,7 cm
Privately owned in Switzerland, on deposit at the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
As a teenager, Paul Klee practiced drawing. During hikes, he made numerous sketches on site, such as this work from 1898. He tried to capture every detail of the scene: every leaf and every branch are carefully rendered. With light and dark pencil strokes, he created a sense of space and depth. As a result, the tree trunks appear three-dimensional. He made the trees in the background lighter, creating the illusion that they are farther away. Klee chose a classical composition with a foreground, middle ground, and background.