[Let's Talk About Music] | PAUL KLEE | EP1-2: "Fugue in Red" - Klee the Art Composer
- Manaka Matsumoto
- Jul 8
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 4
This post contains a full transcript of the lecture video below. To accommodate the content of the video to the blog post format, some images of photos or artworks from the video have been left out, and I have separated sections of the text with headings that are not in the video. The text from the video, however, is unedited and in its entirety.
Fugue in Red. 1921.
A watercolor painting on paper and cardboard. On a black background, circles, triangles, squares, and a variety of asymmetrical shapes multiply in a gradation of different shades, between white, red and transparency.
What is a fugue? A fugue is a type of musical piece that can be broadly defined by two specific qualities:
The first is that it is an example of a polyphonic piece of music, meaning that it has two or more voices that are simultaneous yet independent.
The second is that the music progresses by imitation. One voice introduces a short phrase, which is imitated by another voice, and then another. Each imitation starts at different timings and pitches.
Paul Klee’s deep connection to music is evident in the musical motifs found in several of his artworks.
Yet he also produced works that have titles that are musical, but in the technical sense. If you only looked at the title, and not the actual artwork, they could appear to be a piece of music. "Polyphony." "Rhythmic." "Harmony of the Northern Flora."
Let’s look at Fugue in Red again.
How do the shapes behave? Why do they repeat in a parallel motion?
Why do some overlap, yet some don’t?
Is there a direction in how the colors are changing?
Are they materializing into clarity, or fading into obscurity?
Time: The Missing Link
Throughout his career, Klee examined the connection between music and visual art. During his 10 years as instructor at the Bauhaus, he taught artistic theory and technique in a series of rules that were rooted in music fundamentals.
A major breakthrough for Klee was the connection between art and music being temporality, or time.
A dot becoming a line to finally a shape is a product of time, from the perspective of both the creator and viewer.
This is Klee’s 1930 painting Rhythmic - a grid of black, gray and white squares.
Notice how the horizontal order of the colors, from left to right, is always black to gray to white. Yet despite appearing to be a check pattern, the squares do not align vertically. The eye is thus conditioned to follow each row from left to right.
Klee takes the concept of “rhythm”, a pattern in time, and visualizes it using repetition. The unevenness of the rows appear to visually imply “delay”. Although the viewer is not meant to literally “hear” this rhythm, one can notice the direction, the intentional lack of coordination, and the unique texture arising from this combination of delayed rows.
Painting "Polyphonically"
In Klee’s own words in 1917, “Polyphonic painting is superior to music in that there, the time element becomes a spatial element. The notion of simultaneity stands out even more richly.”
In his 1932 painting Polyphony, there are dots, blending colors, and overlapping layers of squares and rectangles. All independent entities in which their simultaneity within the piece evokes “polyphony.”
Klee recognized polyphony, then an inherently musical concept, as a means to visualize simultaneity of independent artistic elements.
In his 1930 painting White Framed Polyphonically, a series of overlapping watercolor layers border a small, white, rectangle in the center. The “independent multiple voices” are the layers, outlined in black pen. The “simultaneous” lies in the resulting variations of shades and shapes, produced by the layers.
Making Music as an Art Composer
But are these artworks simply “images” or “representations” of music? Are they meant to be based on actual sound? Is this what music “looks” like to Klee?
One could say that Klee treated artistic elements just as if they were musical notes or rhythms. It is almost as if, instead of sound, he used visual elements to compose music. One cannot “hear” the rhythm, harmony or polyphony, yet we can definitely see, feel and respond to it.
Even in works without explicit references to music, Klee’s musical treatment of lines, shapes and colors became a signature of his style.
Klee’s style not only developed modern art. It also offers a new perspective on the musical experience. One can express themselves musically without an instrument or voice, and one can receive music, by listening not just with their ears, but their eyes, entire body, and mind.
The Art Composer - A New Path?
Paul Klee’s instrument was not just the violin. Art was also his instrument, a means to establish his musical identity.
But why did he ultimately choose that path? Why didn’t he pursue a musician’s career - despite music and violin being his passion?
Something must have led him to believe that polyphonic painting was “superior” to music. What happened? Could Klee have envisioned a future in art that he could not see in music?
(To be continued in EP1-3)
Sources
“Fokus.” Zentrum Paul Klee. Accessed May 13, 2025. https://www.zpk.org/en/ausstellung/fokus.
“Paul Klee. Melody and Rhythm.” Zentrum Paul Klee. Accessed April 30, 2025. https://archive.zpk.org/en/exhibitions/review/2006/paul-klee-n-melody-and-rhythm-37.html.
Düchting, Hajo (translated into Japanese by Goto, Fumiko).『パウル・クレー: 絵画と音楽 (“Paul Klee: Art and Music”)』. Tokyo, Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2009.
Fink, Monika. “Polyphony in Image and Sound.” Music in Art Vol. 42, no. 1–2 (2017): 367–74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/90019515.
Predota, Georg. “Paul Klee: Fugue in Red.” Interlude, October 2, 2023. https://interlude.hk/paul-klee-fugue-red/.
Verdi, Richard. “Musical Influences on the Art of Paul Klee.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies Vol. 3 (1968): 81–107. https://doi.org/10.2307/4104301.
Wakerley, Craig. “Music and Temporality in the Art of Paul Klee.” DailyArt Magazine, August 27, 2024. https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/passing-time-with-klee-demonstrating-temporality-in-visual-art/.
Images and Photos
All images of Klee’s artwork and photos in this post are scans of either postcards or pages from a book that I personally own.
Harmony of the Northern Flora, White Framed Polyphonically and Rhythmic stricter and freer were scanned from postcards purchased at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art.
Klee, Paul. Harmonie der nördlichen Flora. 1927. Postcard.
Klee, Paul. polyphon gefasstes Weiss. 1930. Printed in Germany. Postcard.
Klee, Paul. Rhytmisches strenger und freier.1930. Art Unlimited, 1992. Postcard.
All other images and photos:
Hajo Düchting (translated into Japanese by Fumiko Goto).『パウル・クレー: 絵画と音楽 (“Paul Klee: Art and Music”)』. Tokyo, Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2009.
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