Paul Klee

They say he kept a handwritten catalogue of every single thing he made, numbering each one as it left the easel — the pencilled line along the bottom edge is his own filing, not a museum label.

Apparently the title's a bit of wordplay - Senecio's a plant name that also echoes the Latin word for 'old man,' which is what the face is meant to be.

The title points at Mount Parnassus, where the Muses were supposed to live, and it's also the name of an old set of music exercises — he played violin seriously, so people reckon both were on his mind. It's said to be one of the biggest canvases he ever did.

I couldn't find much on this one specifically — from what I've read he turned out hundreds of small pieces around this time, sometimes several in a week, which seems like an unbelievable pace. If anyone knows more about this one, I'd love the story.

Painted while he was teaching at the Bauhaus, a school better known for chairs and lettering than for cats. The bird up on the forehead isn't a bird in the room, from what I've read — it's meant to be what the cat has in mind.