Response

At first, I thought that Paul Klee had somehow just decided to draw something really simplistic and slightly gruesome. The symbolism and drawing technique all resemble his other works (which I looked at while researching him); however, the colors just didn't seem like they were complex enough to be him. After a further dive and finding out that he was actually suffering from a disease and had passed away in June of the same year the work was created. He didn't need to embellish the artwork with numerous colors and whatnot. Even so, the colors all complemented each other to form a gruesome depiction of impending death. The essence was that he was approaching death. The symbolism was much more important, especially if his body was inhibited by pain or other symptoms from the disease. Death and Fire made me sad, that he suffered from the disease to the point where he could tell that he would die soon. The dark black lines were also like desperate strokes onto the cloth, as though Klee were desperately trying to get his last words out before the disease overtook him completely, like the figure approaching on the right of the work.