Tree Nursery

Images that reflect Paul Klee’s vision of creation and growth are richly represented in the museum’s collection, and Tree Nursery is the most important among them. The first Klee work to be acquired by Duncan Phillips, it probably appealed to him because of its colors, texture, and “fanciful and unobtrusively artful pattern.” Nevertheless, Tree Nursery was considered part of the “experimental laboratory of the Phillips Memorial Art Gallery” and kept on display for only a short time after its purchase.

p>Tree Nursery is a clear illustration of Klee’s intense studies of nature’s laws governing growth and form. He believed these powers to be closely related to those of the artist, who consequently assumed a near godlike position. He wrote in his notebook: “Foe I was where the beginning is… that is tantamount to being fruitful.”