Friedlich

Within a pale yellow space, vibrant triangles overlap.
From a horizontal line below, geometric forms fan outward and upward.
Fine particles, like a blue mist, drift softly across the background.

Dessau, Germany, 1930.
Kandinsky and Paul Klee were both teaching at the Bauhaus in Dessau, living next door to each other in residences designed for the faculty.
They were close neighbors who enjoyed afternoon tea together on the terrace.
At the same time, they were intellectual and professional rivals of the highest order.

Between the two of them, there was a quiet tradition.
Ever since the formation of Der Blaue Reiter in 1911, they had exchanged their own works as gifts on each other's birthdays.
Each winter, they shared these offerings through their art.

December 4, 1931.
On Kandinsky's 65th birthday, Klee gave him a masterpiece of his own:
a 1927 work titled Tripelmarionette.
Kandinsky was profoundly moved.

Then arrived December 18.
On Klee's birthday, Kandinsky presented him with this painting—
a watercolor he had completed in his studio the previous September.
In the center of the mount, he had written a special dedication in his own hand:

"To my old, dear friend."