“Remembrance of a Garden,” an artwork by Paul Klee created in 1940, is a quintessential example of Expressionism. The medium of this piece is watercolor on linen paper mounted on cardboard, with dimensions measuring 44 by 46 centimeters. This landscape genre artwork forms part of the collection at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein.
The artwork exhibits a multitude of organic and geometric shapes intertwined, creating an abstract representation of a garden. Its color palette is rich and diverse, with patches of vibrant greens, oranges, and yellows intermingling with cool blues and purples. These various hues are contained within defined shapes and blocks, lending a mosaic-like quality to the entire composition. There is a rhythm and flow in the overlapping and adjacent color fields, possibly reflecting the dynamic and ever-changing nature of a garden’s landscape. Klee’s signature can be discerned near the bottom right-hand corner, anchoring the piece with a sense of acknowledgment from its creator. The seemingly spontaneous application of watercolor exudes a sense of freedom and emotional expression, which is characteristic of the Expressionist movement to which Klee contributed significantly.
