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Wassily Kandinsky's Art

WHO WAS kandinsky?

Kandinsky’s works and ideas impacted several generations of painters, from his Bauhaus students through the Abstract Expressionists after WWII. Above all, Kandinsky’s works were deeply spiritual.

early life

The Russian abstract artist was born in Moscow and studied a variety of subjects, including business and law. At the age of 30, Kandinsky left a job lecturing on law and business to attend the Munich Academy, where his tutors included Franz von Stuck.

career

Kandinsky found art school, which is typically thought to be challenging, to be simple. At the start of the 20th century, he began to establish himself as a theorist of art and an artist.

metamorphosis

In 1908, he purchased a copy of Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant’s Thought-Forms. He entered the Theosophical Society in 1909. At this period, he produced The Blue Mountain (1909), illustrating his move toward abstractions.

the blue period

The Blue Rider (1903), depicting a shrouded man on a racing horse riding over a rocky landscape, was one of his most important works from the first decade of the 20th century. The rider’s cape is a moderate blue.

germany and the bauhaus

Kandinsky taught a beginner designing course and an intensive theoretical class at the Bauhaus, as well as painting workshops.

greater synthesis

Kandinsky employed unique color combinations that evoked Slavic popular art. This phase refers to a synthesis of Kandinsky’s prior work, in which he utilized and enriched all components.

unique art style

He accepted all creative trends of his period and forebears, such as Art Nouveau, Fauvism and the Blue Rider, Surrealism, and the Bauhaus, only to evolve closer to abstractionism as he studied spirituality in the artwork.

conception

Kandinsky began the first seven of his 10 compositions, writing that “music is the supreme instructor.” Captivated by the concept of a New Age, doomsday is a frequent topic in Kandinsky’s first seven creations.

notable kandinsky paintings

Small Worlds (1922) On White II (1923) Circles in a Circle (1923) Soft Hard (1926) Composition IX (1936) Composition X (1939) Circle and Square (1943)