Paul Klee painted Sunset in 1930, during his years teaching at the Bauhaus. The oil on canvas belongs to the Art Institute of Chicago. Klee's teaching explored the interaction of visual elements, and the museum relates this work to his interest in music, rhythm, and the simultaneous effects of different forms.
Colored dots spread across an earthy ground and gather within overlapping curved and rectangular areas. A small face occupies the upper left, while a red disc and thin downward arrow appear near the lower right. These recognizable signs provide points of reference without turning the arrangement into a conventional landscape or a scene with consistent depth.
Different densities of dots make one area appear to vibrate against another. Their repeated scale also links shapes that would otherwise seem separate. The picture can be read as a measured arrangement of pulses and intervals, with geometry controlling an elusive atmosphere. Its quiet humor and shifting spatial relationships broaden the expressive possibilities of a limited set of forms.
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