The Harbinger of Autumn [green and violet gradation with orange accent] 1922

Paul Klee made this watercolour, called The Harbinger of Autumn, on paper, but I don’t know exactly when. He’s laid down all these horizontal bands of colour, like the slow accumulation of sediment, but he’s also divided the image vertically into what look like architectural blocks. What I like about this kind of structural approach is how it makes the colour sing – each of the colour planes gains its resonance from the colours it sits alongside. Then there’s that perfect orange tree, sitting in the middle of it all. In the context of these muted colours, and formal arrangements, it feels like this splash of autumn colour is coming from another world. I see Klee as a kindred spirit, like Hilma af Klint, building these symbolic colour structures.