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Find the three gray birds, then look for the shapes that repeat around them: crescent moons, six-pointed stars, circles and the letters R and N.
Klee made this sheet in 1917, during his army service with an aviation unit, when the Zentrum Paul Klee notes he could keep working. Birds with crested heads sit among stars, moons, a pink flower and large letters, in gouache, watercolor and pen. A strip of yellow paper runs along the top, and the title is written in ink on the mount.
gouache, watercolor, and pen and black ink over graphite on laid paper, mounted on cardboard; the sheet bordered at the top with yellow paper strip mounted to support · overall: 22.8 x 18.1 cm · National Gallery of Art · The Blue Rider
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Persische Nachtigallen (Persian Nightingales)
- Artist
- Paul Klee Swiss, 1879 - 1940
- Date
- 1917
- Medium
- gouache, watercolor, and pen and black ink over graphite on laid paper, mounted on cardboard; the sheet bordered at the top with yellow paper strip mounted to support
- Dimensions
- overall: 22.8 x 18.1 cm (9 x 7 1/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Catherine Gamble Curran and Family, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- National Gallery of Art
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.