After a Sketch from Zurich (Nach einer Scizze aus Zürich)
1914
Watercolor with graphite underdrawing on wove paper; artist-mounted to paperboard
11.4 × 13.3 cm (4.5 × 5.2 in)
SEE IT IN PERSON
● On view now — Collection Gallery, Room 17, South Wall
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia · verified July 2026
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FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG
The rainbow-colored circles, polygons, and conical shapes of this small watercolor might remind viewers of searchlights or shooting stars. Painted in 1914, the image attests to Klee's discovery of color during a light-soaked trip to Tunisia during that year and his subsequent pursuit of the "romanticism of abstraction." He wrote that art should "raise itself to visions of multiple harmonies, a harmony of colors separating and coming together again in the same action. This synchronic action is the one, true subject of painting."
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