Senecio (Klee)

Painting by Paul Klee

This article is about the painting by Paul Klee. For a flowering plant in the daisy family, see Senecio.

Senecio

Artist| Paul Klee
Year| 1922
Medium| oil on canvas mounted on panel
Dimensions| 40.5 cm × 38 cm (15.9 in × 15 in)
Location| Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel

Senecio or Head of a Man Going Senile is an oil on canvas mounted on panel Cubist painting by Swiss artist Paul Klee, from 1922. It is held in the Kunstmuseum Basel.

## Analysis

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Klee's adaptation of the human head divides an elderly face into rectangles of orange, pink, yellow, and white.[1] The flat geometric squares within the circle resemble a mask or the patches of a harlequin, hence the title's reference to the artist-performer Senecio.[2] The triangle and curved line above the left and right eyes respectively give the illusion of a raised eyebrow.[1]

The painting's use of lines, ambiguous shapes, and space all demonstrate the principles of Klee's artistry in which simple graphical elements are "set in motion by energy from the artist's mind."[2]

## See also

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* List of works by Paul Klee

## References

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1. ^ a b "Senecio". Totally History. 26 January 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
2. ^ a b Butler, Adam; Van Cleave, Claire; Stirling, Susan (1996). The Art Book. Phaidon Press. p. 250\. ISBN 0-7148-3625-7.

## External links

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* Media related to Senecio by Paul Klee at Wikimedia Commons

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Paul Klee

List of works

Paintings|

* Ab ovo (1917)
* Swamp Legend (1919)
* Villa R (1919)
* Angelus Novus (1920)
* Camel (in Rhythmic Landscape with Trees) (1920)
* Senecio (1922)
* Twittering Machine (1922)
* Architecture (1923)
* Fish Magic (1925)
* Limits of Reason (1927)
* Cat and Bird (1928)
* Highway and Byways (1929)
* Has Head, Hand, Feet and Heart (1930)
* Ad Parnassum (1932)
* In the Magic Mirror (1934)
* Heroic Roses (1938)
* Insula dulcamara (1938)
* Angel, Still Groping (1939)
* Death and Fire (1940)

Books|

* Paul Klee Notebooks

Museums|

* Zentrum Paul Klee

Related|

* Lily Klee (wife)
* Fate of the Animals (restoration work)
* Die Tunisreise (2007 documentary)

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