19 questions · Art
Wassily Kandinsky is born in 1866 in Moscow and at first follows a quite different path: he studies law and economics and becomes a university lecturer. Only at thirty does he give up this secure career to become a painter: legend has it after a painting by Monet deeply shook him, even though at first he could not make out the subject at all. It is precisely this experience (that colour and form alone can have an effect) that becomes the core of his life's work. Kandinsky becomes a pioneer of abstract painting. He is convinced that art need not depict anything but, like music, can speak directly to the soul: colours and forms as pure sounds, without any recognisable object. Around 1910 he paints some of the first wholly non-representational pictures in art history. In his book "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" he sets out this new vision in theory. In Munich, Kandinsky and friends found the artists' group "Der Blaue Reiter" (The Blue Rider), a centre of the avant-garde. Later he teaches at the famous "Bauhaus", the most influential art and design school of modernism, where his forms grow stricter and more geometric: circles, triangles and lines in finely balanced compositions. When the Nazis close the Bauhaus and condemn modern art as "degenerate", Kandinsky emigrates to France, where he dies in 1944. He is regarded as one of the fathers of abstract art. Did you know that Kandinsky could supposedly hear colours as sounds (a phenomenon called synaesthesia) so that painting was for him almost like composing music? Kandinsky, pioneer of abstract painting and co-founder of ‘The Blue Rider’, wanted colours and forms to sound like music. His great ‘Compositions’ (‘Composition VI’, ‘Composition VII’, ‘Composition VIII’ and ‘Composition X’) form the heart of his work. Add to them ‘Colorful Life’, ‘On White II’, ‘Yellow-Red-Blue’, ‘Several Circles’, ‘Sky Blue’, ‘In Grey’ and ‘Tempered Elan’.
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abstract painting
Around 1910 he painted some of the first wholly non-representational pictures.
💡 Did you know? Kandinsky is regarded by many as the creator of the first purely abstract picture around 1910, with no recognisable objects at all.
music / sound
Kandinsky saw colours and forms like music: they were to make the soul „resonate“ directly.
💡 Did you know? He could supposedly hear colours as sounds (synaesthesia).
The Blue Rider
In 1911 Kandinsky founded the artists' group „The Blue Rider“ in Munich with Franz Marc.
💡 Did you know? The name grew from a shared fondness: Kandinsky loved riders, Marc loved horses and both loved the colour blue.
Bauhaus
There his forms grew stricter and more geometric.
💡 Did you know? At the Bauhaus Kandinsky taught colour theory and form: until the Nazis closed the school in 1933.
Russia (Moscow)
He gave up a career in law for art.
💡 Did you know? Kandinsky first studied law and became a painter only at 30: reportedly struck by Monet's painting of a haystack.
France (1944)
Fleeing the Nazis, Kandinsky went to France, where he died near Paris in 1944.
💡 Did you know? The Nazis condemned modern art as "degenerate".
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Composition VII
Around 1913: a high point of his early abstract painting.
💡 Did you know? Kandinsky made over 30 preparatory studies: it is considered his most complex work, uniting chaos and harmony.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
The Blue Rider
Painted around 1903.
💡 Did you know? This early painting gave the whole artists' group its name.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
On White II
Painted around 1923.
💡 Did you know? From Kandinsky's Bauhaus years: geometric forms hover tensely on a white ground.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Yellow-Red-Blue
Painted around 1925.
💡 Did you know? The title names the three primary colours: Kandinsky assigned each its own „spiritual“ effect.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Composition VI
Painted around 1913.
💡 Did you know? Kandinsky linked the picture to the idea of a great flood: destruction and new beginning at once.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Composition X
Painted around 1939.
💡 Did you know? His last great composition: floating forms on a deep black ground.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Colorful Life
Painted around 1907.
💡 Did you know? An early, still figurative work full of Russian folk motifs.
Foto: Xyxyzyz · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Composition VIII
Painted around 1923.
💡 Did you know? After his emotive early work, Kandinsky turned strictly geometric at the Bauhaus: circles, lines, triangles.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Several Circles
Around 1926: floating circles, from his Bauhaus period.
💡 Did you know? For Kandinsky the circle was the most perfect form: „a link to the cosmic.“
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Sky Blue
Painted around 1940.
💡 Did you know? Playful fantasy creatures drift as if underwater: from Kandinsky's late Paris years.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
In Grey
Painted around 1919.
💡 Did you know? A transitional work in which, after the First World War, Kandinsky found a more rigorous form.
Foto: Wassily Kandinsky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Tempered Elan
Painted around 1944.
💡 Did you know? From his late period: biomorphic forms reminiscent of cells appear.
Foto: AnonymousUnknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky (1866 to 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist regarded as one of the founders of abstract painting.
💡 Did you know? Kandinsky probably had synaesthesia: he „heard“ colours and „saw“ music: the basis of his abstract art.
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