Paul Klee artwork - Persian Nightingales
Literary references permeate the works of Swiss artist Paul Klee, whose Persische Nachtigallen (Persian Nightingales) most likely alludes to the verses of the fourteenth- century poet Hafiz. Mortal never won to view thee, Yet a thousand lovers woo thee; Not a nightingale but knows In the rose-bud sleeps the rose. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe introduced the Persian writer to Germanspeaking audiences in his West-östlicher Divan, and it was probably here that Klee first learned of Hafiz's work. In sensuous poetic images, the Persian master celebrates the joys of love, wine, and the natural world. Two of his recurring motifs are the nightingale and the rose, the former symbolizing earthly yearning, and the latter divine beauty and glory. This radiant watercolor reflects in miniature a wondrous, microcosmic universe, one that even grants status to lowly consonants. Indeed, the letters R and N are fully integrated within the composition; they are scaled to the size of the nightingales and juxtaposed in the same indeterminate space. As is often the case in Persian art and particularly in Hafiz's poetry, the earthly and the divine are poised in a delicate and ambiguous balance. Individual shapes shift one against the other, each within the confines of Klee's wiry line and each flooded with thin washes of color. Although perfectly balanced for the moment, one senses that a tiny slip of a line in one direction or another might set the whole creation tumbling - National Gallery of Art
Size: 3054px × 4100px
Photo credit: © steeve-x-art / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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