Senecio (Head of a Man Going Senile)
The object
the geometric face — circles, squares, and triangles arranged into an aging man
The story
Klee painted Senecio (Latin for 'old man') at the Bauhaus in 1922. The face is constructed entirely of geometric blocks of colour — circles, squares, triangles — but the relationships between them produce a face that is unmistakably an old man: tilted eyes, raised eyebrow, mouth opening in surprise. A Bauhaus demonstration that emotion can be built from pure geometry. 41 × 38 cm. Now at Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel @kunstmuseumbasel
The reel
The painting
