Ad Parnassum

At the center of the canvas rises a colossal, triangular mountain.
Near its summit floats a vibrant orange circle.

Toward the bottom, an arched gateway is drawn in bold black lines.
Countless square dots of color cover the entire surface like a mosaic,
as if radiating light from within.

This painting was created in Germany in 1932,
a tense period marked by the rapid rise of the Nazi Party and an uneasy atmosphere pervading society.

For this reason, it is often described as a work of tragedy—
a tragic cipher hastily produced by an artist living in dread of exile amidst the despair of Nazi suppression and dismissal,
later seized as "degenerate art" by the Nazis and sent abroad.

Yet in truth, this is a myth that overlooks the actual timeline.
When this painting was created, he was not living in fear.

In 1932.
The previous year, Paul Klee had resigned from the teaching post he had held for many years
to become a professor at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts.

His teaching load was lighter.
He had acquired a spacious studio.
It was a wonderful environment that allowed him to devote himself freely to his art.

Physically healthy before the onset of his illness,
he enjoyed great stability, both financially and mentally.

This was not a commissioned work;
it was born from his own pure artistic pursuit.

Klee was also a trained violinist.
What he pursued was the grand theme he had explored since the late 1920s: the complete fusion of music and painting.

Multiple melodies intertwine to produce beautiful harmonies—
it was this musical structure that he sought to express through dots of pigment.

He primed the canvas with a white ground,
then stamped black lines and white dots onto it.

Over this, he applied layers of oil paint,
meticulously brushing a variety of colors onto each individual dot.