Southern Gardens
1919 · Watercolour and ink on paper, mounted on cardboard · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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About this work
- Artist
- Paul Klee (1879–1940)
- Year
- 1919
- Medium
- Watercolour and ink on paper, mounted on cardboard
- Original size
- 28.9 × 22.5 cm
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Movement
- Expressionism
Small patches of watercolour in pink, lilac, blue, yellow, coral and green sit side by side like tiles, with a few black shapes and spiky dark plants among them and red forms like roofs along the top edge. The colours are transparent, so the white paper glows through and the whole sheet seems flooded with light. Klee made it in 1919, five years after his journey to Tunisia, and its title and palette seem to return to the gardens and sunlight of that trip. Its loose grid of colour squares points toward the more systematic colour studies he would develop at the Bauhaus, which he joined at the start of 1921. The sheet is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, part of the Berggruen Klee Collection given in 1984.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Transparent tiles of pink, lilac, blue and yellow with small dark plants, for a child's room, bathroom or kitchen at 16×24 in natural wood. A white, blush or pale blue wall; it pairs with Hammamet with Its Mosque.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Expressionism painting
- Era
- 20th century (1919)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- kitchen, bathroom, kids room, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — natural wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Southern Gardens in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Southern Gardens painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.




























