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.[1] Paintings during this period tended to be simpler and representative of the suffering he was going through.[2]
Hieroglyphics
The painting also represents hieroglyphics, an interest of Klee's during this time,[3] 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).