Description
Inscription is a painting by Paul Klee from 1926: a warm brown-ochre sheet is crossed by fine horizontal lines, like the grain of wood or the ruled lines of an exercise book, and along them stand small signs that recall the script of an unknown language. The original is a small watercolour with India ink on paper mounted on cardboard, about 31 x 22 cm with its mount, and it belongs to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. To your order, our painter transfers it by hand to canvas, in oil or acrylic, in 8 upright sizes from 29 x 46 to 110 x 185 cm or made to measure. Before the parcel is closed, we send you a photograph of the finished work.
| Title: | Inscription |
| Other titles: | Inschrift (German title) · Iscrizione (Italian title) |
| Painter: | Paul Klee (1879–1940) |
| Year painted: | 1926 |
| Original size: | 31.1 cm x 22.2 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Watercolour and India ink on paper on cardboard |
| Painting style: | Modernism |
| Located at: | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Inscription – Paul Klee
What does Inscription show?
The upright sheet is washed in warm brown and ochre, darkest along the top edge and fading to a sandy tone in the middle. On the paper the colour has gathered into tiny specks and grains, so the sheet looks like old parchment or wood.
Thin ink lines run down its full height, almost horizontal but never quite straight, bending, touching or drifting apart like the rings in a plank. At the top they crowd into a band of short vertical strokes and stepped squares, like a decorative border.
Between the lines stand the signs: a V with a dot, a little ladder of short strokes and an upside-down V, also dotted, then higher up a woven knot of crossing lines, lower down a small stepped shape with a circle, and along the bottom heavier vertical ticks among steps like brickwork. It reads like a text in a script nobody knows.
What do the signs mean?
The title tells us this is writing, yet we cannot read it: the signs resemble letters but spell no word in any known alphabet, so they are best looked at as rhythm.
The English Wikipedia article on Klee notes that he often worked letters, numbers and grids into his pictures. Of works with bands of incised, primitive script, like others from those years, it says the meaning lies in the rhythms the viewer sets in motion while trying both to read and to look.
Inscription invites exactly that. The eye slides from row to row, pauses at the knot, hops over the ladder and drops to the dense ticks at the foot, and each viewer sees something else in the signs: a seal, an old tablet, a page of music.
Why do so many people love this quiet sheet?
Inscription never raises its voice. One warm colour and fine black lines are enough, yet it holds the eye, because there is always one more sign to find. It feels calm and meditative, right for a room where you want quiet.
Klee’s father was a German music teacher and his mother a Swiss singer, and he played the violin from childhood, in an orchestra too; Rilke wrote that his drawings were often like transcriptions of music. The rows here really do recall a stave, and the signs notes that nobody plays.
Klee was not always this quiet, though. His dry humour comes through clearly in Nearly Hit, a work of a very different character.
The Paul Klee article on Wikipedia, in English, is about the painter, not this painting.
Where is the original, and how big is it?
The original belongs to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, where it is listed under inventory number 41.343. Klee made it in 1926 in watercolour and India ink on paper, mounted on cardboard.
The sheet is small: the museum gives 31.1 x 22.2 cm (height x width), about 31 x 22 cm with its mount, just a little larger than an A4 page.
At the time Klee was teaching at the Bauhaus, where he worked from January 1921 to April 1931 alongside Wassily Kandinsky, before moving on to the Düsseldorf Academy.
Inscription or another Klee?
Inscription is a canvas painting for anyone who loves quiet, paper, handwriting and warm earth colours. Its narrow upright format fits where a wide painting cannot: between two windows, beside a bookcase or in a hallway.
If Klee’s lines and signs appeal to you, take a look at Two Ways as well. If you are after a night-time mood, you may prefer Rocks at Night, and if you would rather look at an angel, In Angel’s Care.
The whole range, all the famous Paul Klee paintings we offer with their sizes and frames, is gathered on our Paul Klee page.
How do we hand-paint Inscription on canvas?
Klee’s original is a small watercolour with India ink on paper mounted on cardboard. Ours is an oil painting reproduction on canvas: the painter works in oil or acrylic, in the size you choose, so it hangs on your wall like any other work on a stretcher.
First he lays the brown-ochre ground in thin layers, darker at the top, and dabs it with a dry brush to echo the grainy, speckled surface that gives the sheet its warmth.
Then he draws the lines one by one with a fine brush, keeping their slight waver, and adds the signs last. In the larger sizes the lines grow longer, not thicker, so the sheet stays light.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 29 x 46 or 40 x 62 cm beside a door or in a hallway, 48 x 75 and 55 x 85 cm above a desk, 60 x 100 and 77 x 129 cm above a sofa, and 90 x 140 or 110 x 185 cm for a tall wall by the stairs.
We paint Inscription in 8 upright sizes (width x height): 29 x 46, 40 x 62, 48 x 75, 55 x 85, 60 x 100, 77 x 129, 90 x 140 and 110 x 185 cm. The original measures just 22.2 x 31.1 cm (width x height), so every one of our sizes enlarges the sheet; at 110 x 185 cm it is almost six times as tall as it is in New York. Fine lines and simple signs take enlargement well and look even calmer on a large canvas.
As a painting for the living room it looks best at 77 x 129 or 90 x 140 cm beside the sofa or between two windows; the smaller sizes suit a study or a bedroom.
Can I order another size or a frame?
Yes. For other proportions we add or remove a little of the empty ruled field, while the signs stay whole and in place. Tell us the size your wall needs and you will get a price and a date for it.
We send it rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing and packs every painting for its journey. The frame is chosen in our 3D app, which only covers the moulding; showing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
Dark or natural wood, or a slim black moulding, suits the warm brown.
When will the painting arrive, and how is it sent?
Once you confirm the order, Inscription is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Before we pack it, you get a photograph of the finished painting, and we make any change you ask for.
Parcels within Slovenia and to the rest of the EU travel without customs, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
Inscription is a quiet present for someone who loves reading, writing or old manuscripts. Not sure about their wall? A wall art voucher lets them pick the size.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, under inventory number 41.343.
What is in the painting?
A brown-ochre sheet with fine horizontal lines and small signs that look like an unknown script.
Is it a print?
No. What you get is a hand-painted copy: every stroke is made by our painter with a brush, in oil or acrylic.
How large is the original?
31.1 x 22.2 cm (height x width) with its mount; our sizes go up to 110 x 185 cm.
Is a size outside the list possible?
Yes. Write to us with the width and height you need, and an offer with price and date follows.
How long will I wait?
Between 15 and 45 working days; you see a photograph of the finished painting before it ships.
Does it suit a study, or make a good gift?
Yes. The calm browns and signs suit a study, a library or a bedroom, and as a present it pleases anyone who loves writing.
Can the signs be read?
No. They resemble letters but form no known word; the title says only that this is an inscription.
- Subject: a warm brown-ochre sheet with fine horizontal lines and signs in an unknown script: a V, a ladder, an upside-down V, a knot and ticks.
- Original: watercolour and India ink on paper on cardboard, 1926, 31.1 x 22.2 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
- Ours: hand-painted on canvas in oil or acrylic as a Paul Klee reproduction, in 8 upright sizes from 29 x 46 to 110 x 185 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: Klee made the sheet during his Bauhaus years; letters, numbers and signs recur in many of his works.
