With the Dot by Paul Klee
Look first

With the Dot

Paul Klee · 1916

A tiny dot becomes an omen inside a world of spindly figures and wartime anxiety.

What to notice

Trace the thin geometric lines around the central figure, then notice how the dark circular form draws disproportionate attention.

Discover

Klee made this drawing during World War I, when his art increasingly used abstraction to process a violent world. The dot functions less as an object than as a sign of threat.

Source institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights status: CC0 / Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access
Cleveland Museum of Art
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