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Composition with Figures

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Count the rectangles of color first, then look for the small pen figures in hats and the animal head at lower right drawn over them.

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In April 1914 Klee traveled to Tunisia with Macke and Louis Moilliet, and the Zentrum Paul Klee says the trip deepened his move toward color and abstraction. This sheet of 1915, about 10 by 13 centimeters, is built from rectangles of watercolor laid side by side. Over them Klee drew a few small figures in hats with a thin pen line.

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pen and ink and watercolor on paper mounted on card stock · sheet: 10.16 × 12.7 cm · National Gallery of Art · The Blue Rider

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Details and source

Museum title
Composition with Figures
Artist
Paul Klee Swiss, 1879 - 1940
Date
1915
Medium
pen and ink and watercolor on paper mounted on card stock
Dimensions
sheet: 10.16 × 12.7 cm (4 × 5 in.) mount: 10.8 × 13.02 cm (4 1/4 × 5 1/8 in.)
Credit line
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
National Gallery of Art

Artist’s life 1879–1940

The Blue Rider c. 1911–1914

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

Composition with Figures · Paul Klee, 1915
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Composition with Figures, Paul Klee

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