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Paul Klee’s Trip to Tunisia
The travels of an artist discovering his technique
One of my favourite artists is the Swiss-German painter Paul Klee.
In 1914, Klee took a two-week trip to Tunisia, a trip that would profoundly alter the course of his art. The working holiday would inspire Klee for many years afterwards, and as far ahead as the 1930s he continued to make paintings that referenced his experiences in Tunisia.
Klee made detailed notes in his diary about the trip, and it is directly from these pages that the impact of the Tunisia experience can be understood.
It began on 3 April 1914, when Klee and his friend and travelling companion, the artist Louis Moillet, travelled from Geneva through the countryside of the Rhone and onto Marseille, a full day’s journey that began at two o’clock in the morning and ended at five in the afternoon.
As the train headed southwards, Klee noted how “the little trees covered with red blossoms began, and the roofs became orange-terracotta, enchanting, exactly my favourite shade of orange.”
Klee found Marseille agreeable. “A southern Paris,” he wrote. “Beautiful enough to make you stay.” They went to the harbour and met the third member of the travelling group, the artist August Macke. According to Klee, Macke was “bubbling”…
