Our Thursday series features must-read books from each branch of the art bookshop NADiff. This week's pick is "Paul Klee: Painting and Music." It's introduced by NADiff modern, the Shibuya branch in Tokyo (Bunkamura, 1st basement, 2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo).


■ "Paul Klee: Painting and Music" by Harjo Duchting (author), translated by Goto Fumiko

Klee's paintings, with their shading of color evoking the undulations of sound, are said to truly "put music into painting." In addition to creating works inspired by opera, he continually created new forms of expression, using musical elements such as rhythm and harmony, as well as musical symbols such as staff notation and notes, as painting materials. It is said that this was the result of his exploration of the relationship between music and art as an art school teacher, based on his musical experience as a violinist. It is said that Klee found support in the difficult circumstances of his later years, when he was forced to flee the Nazis and return to his native Switzerland. That painter was German-born Otto Nebel. He met Klee at the Bauhaus and developed a long-standing friendship with him, continuing to influence him. Nebel, likening himself to an orchestra conductor, left behind numerous works in which sound is expressed through color and form. The "Otto Nebel" exhibition is currently on view at Bunkamura The Museum.
Works by Paul Klee and his close friends Kandinsky and Chagall are also on display.
Enjoy the free, rhythmic lines that evoke music and the harmonious use of light and dark colors.