«Light and rational forms are locked in battle, with light setting them in motion, straightening them, turning parallels into ovals, spinning circles into the spaces in between, and activating the space itself. Hence the inexhaustible variety.» Paul Klee, Diary III . Munich 1908/July
Die Sammlungsausstellung Paul Klee. Farbe, Form und Linie schliesst nahtlos an die Ausstellung Paul Klee. Seltene Früchte an. Ausgeprägter noch jene setzt sie sich mit den künstlerischen Bild- und Gestaltungsansätzen im Schaffen von Paul Klee auseinander. Das besondere Interesse gilt dabei dem Zusammenspiel und Spannungsverhältnis der Hauptelementen bildnerischer Darstellung: Farbe, Form und Linie.
While Klee showed masterly assurance in his command of line and form from an early stage, his approach to colour was more cautious and circuitous, involving extended ventures into graduations of tone and colour. He referred to the line as «my very own property» [mein Ureigentum]. The play of intersections, linear convergence and divergence presented Klee with an inexhaustible abundance of form and design opportunities. They might be concentrated in a variety of abstract and geometric form patterns or create associative links to objects of perception. In Klee’s oeuvre these are particularly distinctive in the convergence towards human physiognomies.
In the interpretation of Klee’s works the line as an elementary form of energy often becomes tantamount to Nature’s processes of transformation and shaping, which in turn comply with cosmic laws of a higher order. Lines turn into watercourses, frolicking in the wind as they follow in the wake of the changing elements. In other compositions Klee uses line, form and colour to create fanciful entities, filigree, dematerialised constructions and structures that seem to float or drift within the image space, reminiscent of imaginary devices or spatial shapes.
In Klee’s late work, line, form and colour find themselves in a tense, dynamic relationship between convergence and sharp contrast. Linear elements delineate and accentuate the limits of the areas of colour or are inscribed within them as symbols of figurations or forms.