Rossignols persans

Paul Klee, 1917

Circles, stars, birds, and crescent shapes are painted against a tent-shaped structure in this pale-toned, abstracted watercolor and drawing. The tent shape has three peaks near the top and is stepped across the bottom. Where what might be called the roof flares over the straighter side walls are an R to the left and, to the right, an N with a curling, red swirl off the top right stem of the letter. Three gray birds with oversized blue eyes are painted in a field of other geometric shapes in shades of cobalt blue, muted purple, mint green, and faint yellow. A cluster of nested, curving pink lines in the lower left corner suggest a rose. The background is mostly white with three circles in shades of purple, and the paper is saturated with red and yellow that bleed into each other across the bottom edge. The artist signed the top left corner of the paper, “Klee.” The watercolor is mounted on cardboard. On that cardboard is written, “1917 92” to the lower left and “Persische Nachtigallen” to the lower right.
Artiste
Paul Klee
Datation
1917
Catégorie
Dessin
Technique
Gouache, aquarelle, plume et encre noire sur graphite, sur papier vergé monté sur carton ; bande de papier jaune en haut
Dimensions
22,8 × 18,1 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Domaine public, CC0

Description de l’image

Circles, stars, birds, and crescent shapes are painted against a tent-shaped structure in this pale-toned, abstracted watercolor and drawing. The tent shape has three peaks near the top and is stepped across the bottom. Where what might be called the roof flares over the straighter side walls are an R to the left and, to the right, an N with a curling, red swirl off the top right stem of the letter. Three gray birds with oversized blue eyes are painted in a field of other geometric shapes in shades of cobalt blue, muted purple, mint green, and faint yellow. A cluster of nested, curving pink lines in the lower left corner suggest a rose. The background is mostly white with three circles in shades of purple, and the paper is saturated with red and yellow that bleed into each other across the bottom edge. The artist signed the top left corner of the paper, “Klee.” The watercolor is mounted on cardboard. On that cardboard is written, “1917 92” to the lower left and “Persische Nachtigallen” to the lower right.

Paul Klee