Frieder Nake, 'Hommage à Paul Klee 13/9/65 Nr.2', 1965. Museum no. E.951-2008. Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Patric Prince
Nake had trained originally in mathematics and was interested in the relationship between the vertical and the horizontal elements of Klee's painting. When writing the computer program to create his own drawing 'Hommage à Klee', Nake defined the parameters for the computer and the pen plotter to draw, such as the overall square form of the drawing. He then deliberately wrote random variables into the program which allowed the computer to make choices of its own, based on probability theory. In this way, Nake was able to explore how logic could be used to create visually exciting structures and to explore the relationship between forms. The artist could not have predicted the exact appearance of the drawing until the plotter had finished.