Heroic Roses

Heroic Roses, known in German as Heroische Rosen, is an oil on stained canvas expressionist painting by Swiss-German painter Paul Klee, from 1938. It is held in the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, in Düsseldorf.

Meaning and history
Heroic Roses was one of Klee's paintings in the final period before his death on June 29, 1940. In 1935 Klee started to suffer from scleroderma, which took a toll on his health. Paintings during this period tended to be simpler and representative of the suffering he was going through.

Hieroglyphics
The painting also represents hieroglyphics, an interest of Klee's during this time, which can also be seen in many of his late 1930s and early 1940s paintings, such as Insula dulcamara (1938) and Death and Fire (1940).