Description
Rocks at Night is a painting by Paul Klee from 1939: a network of angular stones, divided by thin dark lines, covers the whole surface in deep ultramarine, cobalt and violet-blue, with a few greyish and brownish planes among them. The original is a tiny watercolour and ink on paper, just 20.9 x 29.5 cm, held by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Our painter carries it over by hand onto canvas, in oil or acrylic, in 8 landscape sizes from 45 x 31 to 190 x 130 cm or made to measure. Before it leaves us, we show you a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | Rocks at Night |
| Other titles: | Felsen in der Nacht (German title) · Rocce di notte (Italian title) |
| Painter: | Paul Klee (1879–1940) |
| Year painted: | 1939 |
| Original size: | 20.9 cm x 29.5 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Watercolour and ink on paper |
| 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 |
Rocks at Night – Paul Klee
What does Rocks at Night show?
More than twenty stone faces crowd together across the horizontal sheet. Each has a shape of its own: a trapezium, a wedge, a lopsided pentagon, a narrow triangle. None has a right angle and none repeats, so the whole reads like a dry-stone wall or a slope where boulders have jammed against one another.
The borders between the stones are thin, almost black lines.
The colours run from a dark, almost nocturnal ultramarine to a light cobalt that rises in the centre like a lit rock face. Grey and brownish stones lie among the blue ones, some with a reddish glow, as if they sat in shadow. The brush has left visible strokes, scratches and paler patches, so the stones are not smooth but rough, like real rock. At the lower left Klee signed his name in reddish brown.
What does the title tell us?
The title is Klee’s own and says two things: these are rocks, and it is night. There is no moon, no stars and no sky on the sheet; the night lives in the colour alone.
No meaning that Klee himself recorded for this work is known, so we do not invent one. What you can see is enough: a landscape of stone, seen close up and without a horizon, so that you stand in front of a wall rather than a view.
Many people find calm in it.
Why does this blue landscape feel so strong?
Its strength comes from simplicity. Klee used a single family of colours and a single sign, the thin line, and still produced a dense, living surface that does not give itself up at first glance.
1939 was his most productive year: according to English Wikipedia he made more than 1,200 works then, a career high for one year. In his last years he worked with heavier lines and mostly geometric forms, with fewer but larger blocks of colour.
From another period comes Barbarian Sacrifice of 1932, made in the Düsseldorf years and covered with thousands of tiny dots; set side by side, the two show how far Klee’s hand travelled.
Before that Klee had taught at the Bauhaus and at the Düsseldorf Academy; he then returned to Bern, where most of his late work was made. For more on his life, read the Wikipedia article on Paul Klee, in English; it is about the painter, as this sheet has no article of its own.
Where is the original kept, and what size is it?
The original is in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, inventory number 48.1172.538. It was made in Bern in 1939, a year before the painter died.
The sheet measures 20.9 x 29.5 cm (height x width), just under the size of an A4 page. Klee worked it in watercolour and ink.
When the Nazis staged their “Degenerate art” exhibition in 1937, seventeen of his pictures hung in it, and 102 of his works were seized from public collections. Klee died in June 1940 in Switzerland, leaving about 9,000 works.
Rocks at Night or another Klee?
From the same late years comes Archangel of 1938, where thick black curves on a patchwork ground build a tall, narrow face. Calmer still is Two Ways of 1932, with grey rectangles opening towards a white light at the centre. If you want a fine, script-like drawing, look at Inscription of 1926, a sheet of brown lines carrying mysterious signs.
Browse the Paul Klee shelf for more famous Paul Klee paintings, each one hand-painted to order.
How do we hand-paint Rocks at Night on canvas?
Klee’s original is a small watercolour and ink on paper, not an oil. Ours is an oil painting reproduction on canvas: the painter works in oil or acrylic, in the size you pick, so it hangs on the wall like any other canvas painting, with no glass and no mount.
First he draws the network of stones with a thin line, because every plane needs its true shape and its place. Then he fills the stones with blues, layer by layer, from the darkest to the lightest, and lays the grey and brownish planes between them.
Watercolour is transparent, so lower layers and pale scratches show through the blue here and there. The painter achieves this with thin glazes and a dry brush that leaves the trace of each stroke. Last of all, with a fine brush, he draws the dark borders between the stones and the signature at the lower left.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 45 x 31 or 56 x 40 cm for a shelf or a narrow wall, 63 x 45 and 80 x 59 cm above a chest of drawers or a desk, 101 x 74 cm above a bed or a sofa, and 130 x 90, 150 x 102 or 190 x 130 cm for a big wall where the blue stones should fill your view.
We paint Rocks at Night in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 45 x 31, 56 x 40, 63 x 45, 80 x 59, 101 x 74, 130 x 90, 150 x 102 and 190 x 130 cm. The original is only 29.5 cm wide, so even our smallest size enlarges the sheet, and at 190 x 130 cm the rock wall is more than six times as wide as it is in New York.
As a painting for the living room it looks finest at 130 x 90 or 150 x 102 cm above the sofa, where the deep blue calms the room. In a bedroom, 101 x 74 cm above the bed works well, because the night tones never feel restless.
Can I order another size or a frame?
Yes. Because the stones run to every edge, we can extend or trim the composition slightly for different proportions without it losing its character. Send us your custom size and we reply with a price and a date.
You can receive it rolled in a tube, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing and protects every piece carefully before it travels. The frame is chosen in our 3D app, which exists only for that choice; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
Cool blue suits a slim black or dark grey frame, or natural oak.
When will my painting arrive?
The painter starts as soon as you confirm the order, and Rocks at Night is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Before packing, you receive a photograph of the finished canvas, and if you would like a change, we make it.
Within Slovenia and across the EU there are no customs duties to pay, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
This blue night landscape makes a lovely present for someone who loves mountains, the sea or simply calm colours. If you do not know their wall, a gift voucher lets them choose the size themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Which museum owns the original?
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, under inventory number 48.1172.538.
What is in the picture?
A network of angular stones in dark and light blue, grey and brown, separated by thin dark lines.
Will I get a print?
No. It is a hand-painted copy, worked with brushes on canvas by our painter in oil or acrylic.
How small is the original?
It measures 20.9 x 29.5 cm (height x width), close to an A4 page; our sizes go up to 190 x 130 cm.
Can you paint a size your list does not show?
Yes. Send us the width and height you want, and we will quote a price and a delivery date.
How long will I wait?
Between 15 and 45 working days, and you see a photograph of the finished work before it ships.
Does it suit a bedroom?
Yes. The dark blue tones are calm, so it sits well above a bed or in a home office.
What do the blue stones mean?
Klee left no explanation; the title names only rocks and night, and the blue suggests night light.
- Subject: a network of angular stones in ultramarine, cobalt and violet-blue with grey and brownish planes.
- Original: watercolour and ink on paper, 1939, 20.9 x 29.5 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
- Ours: a Paul Klee reproduction hand-painted in oil or acrylic on canvas, 8 sizes from 45 x 31 to 190 x 130 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: painted in Bern in 1939, Klee’s most productive year.
