Bauhaus · 1922

Senecio

Paul Klee 1879–1940

Senecio (1922) by Paul Klee. Its palette is led by light orange (#bc8353, 56%) and bone (#d3bfac, 15%), with accents of scarlet red, dark grey and dark crimson sienna. Overall the canvas is light, vivid and warm.

Color note

After a trip to Tunisia in 1914, Klee wrote in his diary: “Color and I are one. I am a painter.” He later taught color theory at the Bauhaus.

Palette

#bc8353 MG 029 light orange 55.6% of canvas
#d3bfac MG 171 bone 14.8% of canvas
#c99c9c MG 010 light muted red 13.0% of canvas
#cfb26a MG 037 light amber gold 9.9% of canvas
#9b341f MG 019 scarlet red 3.7% of canvas
#755e69 MG 216 dark grey 1.9% of canvas
#5c3a4f MG 144 dark crimson sienna 0.9% of canvas

Color families

Orange 46%, Brown 26%, Yellow 11%, Red 10%, White 6%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.69
Contrast: 0.33
Vividness: 0.078
Warmth: +1.00
Complexity: 100 cells
Hue range: 0.41
Focus: 0.00

Composition

51% of the visual weight is in the left half, 51% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.77 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 56% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 27% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1922
Medium: Oil and marouflage on canvas
Size: 40.3 × 37.4 cm
Genre: abstract art
Made in: Germany
Collection: Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel

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