This study examines the function and meaning of linguistic symbols in Klee's work. Using the artist's diaries, letters, lecture notes and visual allusions, K. Porter Aichele shows how these sources provide the framework for fresh interpretations of works ranging from letter forms in pictorial settings to visual texts. Klee's familiar line drawings are revealed as a radical reinterpretation of the ul pictora poesis tradition, through which the artist questioned whether there is a substantive difference between writing and drawing.