Paul Klee

So, as promised, a post about Paul Klee and the exhibition of his work currently running at the Tate Modern until the 9th of March 2014.

For starters it possibly would have been helpful to have entered into the exhibition with more knowledge than just the knowing that I once copied a Paul Klee painting when I was about 16. But then, sometimes it is interesting to view things with no preconceptions. 

I was first struck by how small all the paintings were and how painful they felt. I paint very expressively, using the colours and the imagery that literally fits me at the very second I am holding the paintbrush. It was very clear that all of Paul Klee's work was clearly thought through, everything was tight, deliberate, meticulous, painfully precise. If I am brutally honest it made me die a little inside. One thing I did find interesting was his colour palette, the colour combinations, and the abstract feelings he tried to portray using just shapes and colour contrasts. A lot of the combinations were complimentary, subtle and seemed just right. I was momentarily jealous that I can normally only deal in lurid, bright colours, strong juxtapositions and colour, colour, colour! The exhibition also seemed to jump around a bit between styles - sections of pure abstract shape and colour, to black line drawings of unusual looking people/fish/boats, pointillist landscapes - it was slightly difficult to follow but at least kept the interest up.

Clockwise from top left: Comedy, Eros, U struji sest pragova, Fire at Full Moon, The Goldfish 

Subsequently I have read a bit about Klee to see if my lack of enthusiasm was through lack of understanding. It wasn't; I would say me and Klee are on different artistic planets -  he wrote extensively about colour theory because it was something he felt incompetent about, it is something I find very natural. He also meticulously painted each item, slowly; I paint expressively and impatiently. His work is usually small, A4/A3 in size, which I find quite restrictive - bigger is better. He was also ridiculously prolific, once painting 1,200 items in a year (!) which may explain why the styles changed a lot, which I suppose is one thing we have in common.

Regardless of the fact that Klee's work doesn't 'float my boat', you can't deny the quality and the thoroughness of thought behind his work. He made me feel like my ideals aren't strong enough, my thought processes too woolly. So maybe that is why I died a little inside, looking at the rigour of a master.