Three Houses 1922

Paul Klee made this watercolor, "Three Houses", with a childlike simplicity that belies its sophistication. The color palette is so muted, with variations of green and lavender. It's almost like looking at a watercolor through a faded window. Klee layers the paint in horizontal bands, letting the colors bleed into one another. The texture feels soft and dreamy. The houses themselves are just simple geometric forms, a square and a triangle. They remind me of the way a child might draw a house, but with a careful attention to balance and composition. Look at the way he’s divided the picture plane and how the negative spaces create depth. I love the way he renders light, how the roof of the middle house is darker on one side, giving it a subtle dimension. Klee's work is often compared to that of Joan Miró, they both tap into a similar vein of playful abstraction, but Klee’s precision and sensitivity to color give his work a unique emotional resonance. It's a reminder that art isn't just about what you see, but how it makes you feel.