Description
Arrow in the Garden is a painting by Paul Klee from 1929: a warm, almost copper-coloured surface is covered with a web of fine drawn lines that form plants, small trees, flowers, spirals and signs, set out in rows like garden beds, and in the middle of it all sits a single small black arrow pointing to the right. The original is in oil and tempera on linen, measures 70 x 50.2 cm and belongs to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. We bring it onto canvas for you by hand, in oil or acrylic, in 8 upright sizes between 30 x 40 and 130 x 185 cm or made to measure. Even before dispatch, you get a photograph of the finished work from us.
| Title: | Arrow in the Garden |
| Other titles: | Pfeil im Garten (German title) · Freccia nel giardino (Italian title) |
| Painter: | Paul Klee (1879–1940) |
| Year painted: | 1929 |
| Original size: | 70 cm x 50.2 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil and tempera on linen |
| Painting style: | Modernism |
| Located at: | Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Arrow in the Garden – Paul Klee
What does Arrow in the Garden show?
The whole surface is held in warm tones between orange, brown and rust red, like old copper. The colour is mottled, and the grainy weave of the linen shows through the thin layers.
Across this ground runs a dense web of fine dark lines. Along the bottom stand flowers on straight stems, little trees with symmetrical branches, spirals and leaves; higher up come horizontal bands full of diamonds, triangles, small circles and crosses, lined up like beds in a vegetable plot or like the lines of an unknown script. A large circle full of tiny signs sits at the top centre.
In all this fine drawing there is only one solid, dark shape: the small black arrow just left of centre, pointing right. Along one edge the year 1929 is written in small figures.
What do the arrow and the garden mean?
The title names two things you really do find in the painting: a garden and an arrow. The garden grows in rows; the arrow appears only once. Klee did not record what it stands for, and we do not guess for him.
In its article on the painter, English Wikipedia describes works by Klee from this period in which incised signs, like a primitive script, run in bands. Their meaning, it says, lies in the rhythms the viewer sets in motion while trying to read them. Like other works of that year, Arrow in the Garden invites this kind of reading, row by row.
The arrow gives that reading a direction: the eye finds it first and follows its tip to the right, but what exactly it means stays open.
Why do so many people stop in front of this painting?
Born in 1879 in Münchenbuchsee near Bern to a German music teacher and a Swiss singer, Klee played the violin from childhood, in an orchestra too. The poet Rilke likened his drawings to transcriptions of music, and the bands of tiny signs here do read almost like staves.
His 1914 trip to Tunisia with August Macke and Louis Moilliet was his breakthrough in colour, yet here the palette narrows to warm browns and oranges and the line does the talking.
For more on the painter, see the Wikipedia article on Paul Klee; it is in English and covers the artist, not this painting in particular.
Where is the original, and how did it come about?
The original belongs to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, in the collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, under inventory number AM 1984-557. It is painted in oil and tempera on linen and measures 70 x 50.2 cm (height x width).
Klee painted it in 1929, while he was teaching at the Bauhaus, where he stayed from January 1921 to April 1931 alongside Wassily Kandinsky. He then taught at the Düsseldorf Academy until 1933.
Eight years later, in 1937, the Nazis put seventeen of his works in the “Degenerate art” exhibition, and 102 of his works were seized from public collections. Klee died in 1940, leaving more than 9,000 works.
Arrow in the Garden or another Klee?
Arrow in the Garden is a canvas painting for anyone who loves warm, earthy colour and fine drawing the eye never tires of.
If you are after another of Klee’s arrows, look at With the Rotating Black Sun and the Arrow. If what you like most here is the beat of the rows, Rhythmical carries it in its very title. For a lighter, dancing scene choose Dance of the Moth, and if architecture is more your thing, there is Revolution of the Viaduct.
Our Paul Klee page gathers all the famous Paul Klee paintings you can order from us, from delicate drawings to broad fields of colour.
How do we hand-paint Arrow in the Garden?
Klee’s original is in oil and tempera on linen and stands 70 cm tall. With us it becomes an oil painting reproduction on fresh canvas: our painter works in oil or acrylic, at the size you choose, building the painting up one layer at a time.
He first lays a mottled ground in several warm tones, from light orange to deep brown, then draws the web of lines with a fine brush.
The black arrow comes last, because it has to stay the one fully dark, sharply edged shape. The result shows the brushwork up close and melts into one warm copper whole from a distance.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 30 x 40 or 38 x 55 cm for a shelf or a narrow wall, 45 x 60 and 55 x 80 cm for a hallway, bedroom or work corner, 73 x 101 and 84 x 115 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, and 105 x 145 or 130 x 185 cm for a tall wall in the living room or on the stairs.
We paint Arrow in the Garden in 8 upright sizes (width x height): 30 x 40, 38 x 55, 45 x 60, 55 x 80, 73 x 101, 84 x 115, 105 x 145 and 130 x 185 cm. The original measures 50.2 x 70 cm (width x height), so the larger sizes enlarge the work; at 130 x 185 cm it is about two and a half times as wide as it is in Paris.
As a painting for the living room it works best at 105 x 145 cm beside the sofa or between two windows, where the fine drawing still reads from a few steps away.
Can I order another size or a frame?
Yes. If you need different proportions, we adjust the composition so the arrow stays near the centre and no row of plants is cut in half. Tell us your custom size, and you will hear back from us with a price and a date for the finished painting.
Choose whether it comes rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed. Our workshop in Slovenia stretches and frames it. The frame is picked in our 3D app, a tool meant only for the moulding choice; a view of the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will my painting arrive?
The painter starts as soon as you confirm the order, and Arrow in the Garden is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Before we pack it, we send you a photograph of the finished painting, and if you want anything changed, we change it.
Within the European Union, Slovenia included, there are no customs duties to pay, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
This warm garden of signs makes a lovely present for a keen gardener or a new home. Unsure of the right size? Give a wall art voucher and the person receiving it picks the size themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original Arrow in the Garden?
At the Centre Pompidou in Paris, in the Musée National d’Art Moderne collection, inventory number AM 1984-557.
What is drawn in the painting?
Rows of tiny plants, little trees, flowers, spirals and signs on a copper-coloured ground, plus one black arrow.
Will I receive a print?
No. You receive a hand-painted copy: every line and every layer of colour is put on the canvas by our painter with a brush.
How big is the original?
It measures 70 x 50.2 cm (height x width); our sizes go up to 130 x 185 cm.
Are sizes outside the list possible?
Yes. Write to us with the width and height, and we will come back with a quote and a timeframe.
How long will I wait?
Making it takes 15 to 45 working days; before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work.
Would it suit a bedroom, or make a good gift?
Yes. The calm, warm tones suit a bedroom, and as a present it is a fine choice for garden lovers and anyone fond of detail.
What does the arrow mean?
Klee left no explanation; the arrow is the only dark shape and leads the eye to the right, so the reading stays open.
- Subject: rows of finely drawn plants, flowers and signs on a copper-coloured ground, with one single black arrow.
- Original: oil and tempera on linen, 1929, 70 x 50.2 cm, Centre Pompidou, Paris.
- Ours: a Paul Klee reproduction painted by hand in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes from 30 x 40 to 130 x 185 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: Klee painted it during his years teaching at the Bauhaus.
