Paul Klee
Canal near Sugiez, 1910
Watercolour and pen on paper on cardboard, 15 x 22 cm
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Donation Paula Lotmar
In this early watercolour, Klee used colour with great delicacy and transparency. This is one of his first works in colour after many years of avoiding it. The subject is nature: a view from the area of Sugiez on Lake Murten. As was typical for Klee, he took advantage of the technique’s potential. Painting on wet paper, he seems to have let the liquid watercolour flow randomly. The particularities of the technique allow the plants or trees to “grow” on their own. Through the transparent, flowing colour, the painting takes on an impressionistic character. Klee conveyed a mood instead of attempting to depict the landscape of Sugiez in exacting detail.