Paul Klee

Paul Klee completed “Blue flower” in 1939, his last full year of working, but one that was far more productive than any previous year. Schematic leaf and flower motifs stand out on a deep, dark blue background; at centre is a black-contoured leaf-like form with lobe-shaped, serrated bulges. It has flowers either side of it. The depth of blue in the background contrasts with the flat floral pattern. Klee spent a great deal of time exploring the psychological effects and symbolism of blue. Thinking of the sky or of water, the observer is placed into a meditational blue space, whose dusky tonality communicates something secretive and melancholic.

To Klee, botanical motifs do not hold the tranquillity of a natural idyll; they have their own sphere of meaning. His belief in the continuity of life and the self-renewing forces of nature finds its expression in his portrayal of plants. The image of the delicate blue flower next to the large, serrated formation of leaves also represents the duality of good and evil. In contrast to other works, it is not growth and fertility to the fore here; rather, this painting is about the threatening aspect of nature and its vulnerability.

The title “Blue flower” refers to one of the most powerful symbols of the German Romantic movement. The blue flower stands both for the world that the rational cannot grasp, and the Romantic yearning for eternity. In the 1802 literary fragment Heinrich von Ofterdingen by Novalis, the hero falls under the spell of a blue flower, which appears to him as the goal of his spiritual aspirations and the symbol of love.

Klee described his style as “cool Romanticism”, and Romantic motifs such as the moon and stars, dreams and imaginary journeys, genies and angels become the focus of themes running through his work from 1918 onward.