Digital Guide

Paul Klee

Overgrowth

Aquarell auf Papier auf Karton , 27 x 21,5 cm

Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern

Dead wood biotope

In 2018, Storm Burglind swept through half of Europe, wreaking havoc. Here, it brought down one of our fruit trees. Instead of neatly clearing away the remains, our team piled them up in a heap and left them there. This created a nesting habitat for insects, spiders, lizards, slow worms, and toads as well as hedgehogs, stoats, and weasels. Even in dead wood, the dead remains of a tree, life begins to stir once more.

About the Work

Growth played an important role in Paul Klee’s work and thought. He was not interested in the beauty of nature at the surface level. Rather, he focused on nature’s processes: the cycle of emergence, growth, and decay. In the work “Overgrowth,” there is almost nothing recognizable, apart from black lines. There are curved, straight, angular, and, above all, branched lines. Despite the high degree of abstraction, the composition recalls branches and there is a feeling of movement – as if all these lines were changing and turning into something new.

Learn More: Growth – Constant Change

It is a miracle of nature that a small seed can grow into a tomato, a sunflower, or spelt after only a couple of months. Growth can be very rapid – you can almost see it taking place. It can also be very slow, extending over decades. Certain species of trees can live for hundreds of years. Through this growth and the changing of the seasons, a state of constant change prevails in nature. It is always evolving. By this we mean evolution, the gradual genetic change that takes place from generation to generation.