Portrait Sketch ‘Aunt and Nephew’ 1915

This ‘Portrait Sketch ‘Aunt and Nephew’ is by Paul Klee. He made it with watercolour, but when? We don’t know exactly, so we can focus on the marks. I love how Klee lets the watercolor do its thing here, with these washes of black and grey, almost like ink blots. The paint is soaked into the paper, thin and transparent in places, pooling around the edges of those blocky shapes. It’s all about the process, the way the water spreads and the pigment settles, making these figures look both solid and ephemeral. Look at the profile on the right, especially how the light catches the nose. It’s all planes and angles, like a cubist sculpture, but softened by the watery medium. He's using the accidents of the process to shape the faces. It reminds me of Picasso's sketches, that same playfulness and reduction to essential forms. Ultimately it shows how art is a conversation across time.