Description
May Picture is a painting by Paul Klee from 1925: on a dark ground, small soft-edged squares line up in gently wavering rows, spring green, turquoise, rose, red, violet and grey, with the odd yellow or white one lighting up among them. The original is oil on cardboard, 42.2 x 49.5 cm, and belongs to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Our painter recreates it for you by hand on canvas, in oil or acrylic, in 8 landscape sizes from 40 x 33 to 190 x 156 cm or made to measure. You see the finished painting in a photograph before it is packed.
| Title: | May Picture |
| Other titles: | Quadro di maggio (Italian title) |
| Painter: | Paul Klee (1879–1940) |
| Year painted: | 1925 |
| Original size: | 42.2 cm x 49.5 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on cardboard |
| Painting style: | Modernism |
| Located at: | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
May Picture – Paul Klee
What does May Picture show?
The whole surface is covered by a grid of small, nearly square fields that Klee set on a dark, almost black ground. Narrow dark gaps stay open between them, so each square stands on its own like a tile in a mosaic. The edges are soft and slightly frayed.
The colours belong to spring. Greens lead, from light grass green to deep fir, joined by turquoise, sea green and petrol blue, with rose, wine red, violet, brown and plenty of quiet grey in between. Here and there a yellow or white square glows.
The rows are not quite straight. Some tilt, as if a breeze were rocking them. Near the top edge, just right of centre, light green, turquoise, white and pink squares gather into a cluster that recalls a tree crown in blossom, while the bottom row flares up in red, pink and orange.
What does the title tell us?
The title places the work in May, when the grass shoots up and the trees flower. Klee paints neither a meadow nor a tree, yet colour and title steer the eye together: many people see a flowering meadow, a garden or a spring hillside seen from afar.
That is only one possible reading: the work tells no story and shows no particular place, only a rhythm in which every square answers its neighbours.
Klee painted grids of coloured squares like this one in the 1920s, and they are often called his magic squares. English Wikipedia notes that he liked geometric forms and grid compositions.
Why do people love May Picture?
Because it is simple and rich at the same time. At first glance it is just squares, but when your eye lingers the colours start to move: the greens gather into islands, the reds along the bottom warm the whole.
Klee explored colour for years and wrote about it at length; his Bauhaus lectures came out in English as the Paul Klee Notebooks. Here you see what he was after: how much colour alone can say.
As a boy he learned the violin, and later he played it in an orchestra as well. The poet Rilke compared his drawings to transcriptions of music, and the rows of squares do read like bars.
For more on the painter, there is a Wikipedia article on Paul Klee; it is in English and covers the artist, not this painting in particular.
Where is the original, and how big is it?
The original is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, under accession number 1984.315.42. Klee painted it in 1925 in oil on cardboard measuring 42.2 x 49.5 cm (height x width).
At the time he was teaching at the Bauhaus, the German school of art, design and architecture, where he worked from January 1921 to April 1931 alongside Wassily Kandinsky. In that same year, 1925, he visited the surrealist exhibition in Paris, and Max Ernst was impressed by his work.
Harder years followed: in 1937 the Nazis put seventeen of his works in the “Degenerate art” exhibition, and in 1940 Klee died, having made more than 9,000 works.
May Picture or another Klee?
May Picture is a canvas painting for anyone who cares more about colour than about a story. With no central motif, the landscape composition spreads well above a sofa, a bed or a long sideboard.
If the grid of squares wins you over, look at Architecture from 1923, another of Klee’s magic squares. Warmer tones come with Florentine Villa District of 1926 and its fine patterns, the deep red Curtain of 1924 suits a narrow wall, and if you prefer figures, you will find them in Acrobats from 1915.
From small watercolours to large grids, all the famous Paul Klee paintings we paint to order are gathered on our Paul Klee page.
How do we hand-paint May Picture on canvas?
Klee’s original is oil on cardboard, a little under half a metre wide. Ours is an oil painting reproduction on canvas: the painter works in oil or acrylic, in the size you pick, and it hangs on your wall like any other painting.
The work starts with the dark ground, which stays visible between the fields. Then the colour goes on square by square in short strokes, so the edges stay soft.
The hardest part is the balance: the green cluster at the top must glow, the red row below must stay warm. Layer by layer, a surface grows with brushstrokes you can see and even feel.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 40 x 33 or 50 x 42 cm for a hallway, a shelf or a work corner, 65 x 53 and 80 x 68 cm above a chest of drawers or a bedside table, 90 x 78 and 115 x 100 cm above a sofa or a bed, and 150 x 122 and 190 x 156 cm for a large wall in a living or dining room.
We paint May Picture in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 40 x 33, 50 x 42, 65 x 53, 80 x 68, 90 x 78, 115 x 100, 150 x 122 and 190 x 156 cm. The original measures 49.5 x 42.2 cm (width x height), so the larger sizes enlarge the small sheet of cardboard a great deal; at 190 x 156 cm the painting is almost four times as wide as it is in New York.
Because the fields are simple and clear, enlarging does the grid no harm. As a painting for the living room it works best at 115 x 100 or 150 x 122 cm, where the greens bring spring indoors.
Can I order another size, and which frame suits it?
Of course. A grid adapts to new proportions more easily than a face: we simply lengthen or shorten the rows. Tell us your custom size, and you will hear back with a price and a completion date.
You can have it delivered rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing and checks every piece carefully before it travels.
You pick the frame in our 3D app, which is for choosing the moulding only; showing the painting on your own wall is a separate service. A slim black or dark grey frame suits the dark grid, while pale oak brings out the greens.
When will May Picture arrive?
Work begins the moment you confirm your order, and the painting is ready to go out within 15 to 45 working days. Before packing, we send you a photograph of the finished painting, and if you want anything changed, we take care of it.
Within Slovenia and the rest of the EU, the parcel travels without customs duties, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
Since it carries the name of a month, it makes a lovely present for a May birthday, a wedding or a housewarming. If you are unsure which size would fit, give a wall art voucher and let the recipient choose.
Frequently asked questions
Which museum has the original?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, accession number 1984.315.42.
What is in the painting?
A grid of small squares in green, turquoise, rose, red, violet and grey on a dark ground.
Is it a print or painted by hand?
Not a print: each one is a hand-painted copy, brushed onto canvas by our painter in oil or acrylic.
How large is the original?
It measures 42.2 x 49.5 cm (height x width); our sizes go up to 190 x 156 cm.
Can I order different proportions?
Yes. Give us the width and height, and we will prepare an offer with a price and a date.
How long will I wait?
Making it takes 15 to 45 working days, and before dispatch you get a photograph.
Is May Picture right for a bedroom or as a present?
Yes. The calm greens and greys sit well in a bedroom, and as a present it pleases anyone who loves spring and modern art.
Do the squares mean something?
There is no fixed meaning; the title points to May, so many people see a flowering meadow or a garden in the grid.
- Subject: a grid of soft squares in spring greens, turquoise, rose and red on a dark ground.
- Original: oil on cardboard, 1925, 42.2 x 49.5 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
- Ours: a Paul Klee reproduction, hand-painted on canvas in oil or acrylic, in 8 sizes from 40 x 33 to 190 x 156 cm or to measure.
- Worth knowing: Klee painted it during his Bauhaus years; it belongs to his magic squares.
