How did Paul Klee’s trip to Tunisia transform his use of colour?

Prior to 1914, Paul Klee primarily worked in black and white and struggled with a lack of confidence in his abilities as a colourist. His 1914 trip to Tunisia served as a transformative turning point in his artistic development.1

During this two-week journey, Klee experienced an intense response to the North African landscape. Influenced by the example of his companion, August Macke, who utilized a more advanced approach to Robert Delaunay’s colourful Cubism, Klee gained new assurance as a painter.1

This trip resulted in his first sustained body of work in colour: a series of lyrical watercolours in which he simplified the landscape into transparent coloured planes. These works established the stylistic and thematic foundation for much of his subsequent painting.1