Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Vasilyevich Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866 and spent his early years as an amateur painter and musician playing cello and piano. He entered the University of Moscow in 1886 and studied economics and law. At the age of thirty he left for Germany to become a painter, drawn by a childhood belief that each color had a mysterious life of its own. He studied art in Munich and was influenced by Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Pointillism, and the bold, brilliant colors used by the Fauves. His work prior to 1909 is naturalistic, but his paintings after 1909 become loosely organized and the colors more bright and vivid. He became active in the German avant-garde movement and formed his own group, the Blue Rider, with German painter Franz Marc. By 1913, Kandinsky's works were considered the first totally abstract paintings, entirely non-representational. He felt a strong connection between colors and music and often titled his works with music related terminology, including composition, improvisation, and harmony. He produced works throughtout the Blue Rider period that were abstract in addition to figurative paintings. His later works in Abstract Expressionism lose their gestural quality and instead were ordered, clear patterns of circles, arcs, lines and various geometric forms. Kandinsky died on December 13, 1944 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. His influence on Modern art lies not only in his paintings but with his work as a teacher and as an art theorist. His theories regarding abstraction were explored in his 1912 book entitled Concerning The Spiritual in Art. He is regarded as an innovator of Modern art and an originator of Abstract Expressionism.

Wassily Kandinsky Images:
Accent in Pink
Accord Reciproque, 1942
Akzent In Rosa, 1926 (Accent in Pink)
Around the Circle
Autumn in Bavaria
Balancement, 1925
Blue
Cercle Jaune
Color Study
Composition 44
Composition IV
Composition with a Blue Background
Composition XII
Deux Taches Noires, 1923
Dominant Curve
Dominant Curve, 1936
Dream Improvisation
Farbstudie Quadrate
Gelb Rot Blau
Gelb-Rot-Blau
Green Composition, 1923
Hommage a Grohmann
Hommage a’ Grohmann
Houses in Munich
Im Blau
Impression III
Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) 1913
Im Schwarzen Viereck
In The Black Circle, 1923
Kleine Welten VII
Komposition X, 1939
Kreise In Kreis, 1923
Landscape with Rain
Milieu Accompagne
Milieu Accompagne, 1937
Mit Und Gegen (For and Against)
Murnau with Rainbow
Noeud Rouge 1936
On The Theme Of The Last Judgement
Paradies
Schweres Rot
Scwarzer Fleck
Small Yellow
Solid Green
Squares with Concentric Circles
Study for Improvisation VII
Tension En Hauteur, 1924
Upwards
Vers Le Blue, 1939
Verstummen
Yellow, Red, Blue
Zunehmen