Hymn to Fertility: Paul Klee and the well-gardened painting
Fri 20 Nov
|Foundling Museum, online & replay
Join us for an in-depth but accessible talk on how expressionist artist Paul Klee experimentally embraced nature in his paintings.
Time & Location
20 Nov 2026, 15:00 – 16:00
Foundling Museum, online & replay, 40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ, UK
About the Event
The expressionist Swiss-German artist Paul Klee (1879–1940) often drew parallels between the creative process and the natural forces that influence and control the growth of plants.
Full of ceaseless spirals, overlapping planes and swelling forms, and with titles like ‘Flowering’ or ‘Hymn to Fertility’, Klee’s work differs from traditional nature studies. Rather than producing ‘from-life’ imitations of nature and natural forms, Klee was more experimental. His use of visual botanical metaphors explored not only the physical characteristics of plants, but also something metaphysical, more fundamental and universal, even extending to the healing potential of nature.
A peer and friend of Wassily Kandinsky and August Macke, Klee was an instrumental member of Der Blue Reiter, a pioneering group of artists working in the early 20th century. His writing on his artistic practice, including colour theory, form and process are considered to be foundational to modern art.
This talk will serve as…