Fertile Land. Paul Klee

«Fertile Land» — a mysterious country captured in several paintings by Paul Klee, and the eponymous essay by the French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, dedicated to the mutual influence of music and visual art in the theoretical works and artistic practice of the genius of European avant-garde. Raised in a family of a violinist and a singer, Klee excelled in classical musical forms and used them to solve purely pictorial problems. Often in his semi-abstract compositions, he refers to notation, drawing figures of conductors, singers, and non-existent instruments, while in lectures and titles of works, he resorts to musical terminology, — thus, the time segment of a fugue becomes the space of the painting for him. Boulez, in turn, finds in Klee's art and theory a foundation for studying structure and rhythm in music. This continuous exchange, the transition between music, painting, and literature, as well as theoretical rigor and expressive inspiration, becomes, in Boulez's view, the fertile land of any creativity.