Paul Klee

In 1914, Paul Klee travels to Tunisia for around 2 weeks with his friends Louis Moilliet and August Macke. On the day they arrive, Klee notes in his diary:

"One thousand and one nights as an essence with 99 per cent real content. What an aroma, how pungent, how intoxicating, how clarifying all at the same time."

The exoticism of the orient – the 1001 nights – is what interests Klee initially. But once in Tunisia he finds inspiration in the cube-like architecture, the landscape and the light, and these influences are evident in this watercolour. It is easy to make out houses and a landscape that Klee structures in colourful, partially geometric blocks; yet the colours are bright and clearly not truthful representations of the originals. In his diary, Klee describes the Tunisian landscape as a "patchwork rhythm." He also remarks on the cubic architecture in the towns and villages, and he begins to focus on the basic, fundamental structures of the visible world, be they in the landscape or the architecture. Later in the trip, Klee notes:

"I am letting the work be. It is occupying me so deeply and gently, I feel it and am becoming so sure, without effort. The colour has me. I have no need to pursue it. It has me for ever, I know it. This is the meaning of the golden hour: I and colour are one. I am a painter."

Overwhelmed by his impressions, Klee decides to travel back to Europe immediately. Aside from his new-found confidence with bright colours, he brings a new sense of abstract depiction with him when he returns home. Both are fundamental components of his later work, and his continued development of them help make Klee a successful and respected artist after the First World War.

Find out more about Paul Klee's passports in our film series "Unpacking Klee".