Who Was Wassily Kandinsky?
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) is recognized as the founding father of modern abstract art and one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. This Russian painter, who became a naturalized German and later French citizen, revolutionized art history by liberating color and form from all figurative representation, paving the way for Abstract Expressionism.
Kandinsky’s Biography
Childhood and Academic Training (1866-1896)
Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 4, 1866, in Moscow into a cultured bourgeois family, he grew up between Moscow and Odessa in a privileged artistic environment. Introduced to piano, cello, and drawing from childhood, he nevertheless followed a conventional academic path, studying law and political economics at Moscow University (1885-1892).
In 1889, an ethnographic expedition to the Vologda region brought him into contact with Russian folk art, a formative experience for his future artistic sensibility.
The Decisive Turn toward Painting (1895-1896)
Two revelations transformed his life in 1895:
- The Impressionist exhibition in Moscow, particularly Monet’s Haystacks
- Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, which triggered in him an experience of synaesthesia (color-sound association)
At age 30, Kandinsky declined a professorship at the University of Tartu to devote himself entirely to art, settling in Munich in 1896.
Artistic Training and Evolution toward Abstraction (1896-1914)
Apprenticeship in Munich and Early Works
At the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, Kandinsky studied under Franz von Stuck, who criticized his “extravagances of color.” In 1901, he founded the Phalanx group and met Gabriele Münter, his companion until 1914.
His early works such as The Blue Rider (1903) and The Blue Mountain (1908-1909) demonstrate a progressive liberation of color. From 1909 onward, his “choir of colors” became increasingly vibrant, charged with cosmic significance.
The Blue Rider and the Theory of Abstraction (1911-1914)
In 1911, Kandinsky founded the Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) movement with Franz Marc and published his seminal treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art, theorizing the psychological effect of colors and their “inner sound.”
Synaesthesia and music: Kandinsky titled his works “improvisations” and “compositions” in reference to musical terminology, influenced by his friend Arnold Schoenberg, pioneer of atonal music.
Painting with Black Arch (1912) represents one of the first total abstractions in art history, liberating forms and colors from all representation of reality.
Russian Period and Soviet Engagement (1914-1921)
The First World War brought Kandinsky back to Russia. Between 1918 and 1921, he actively participated in Soviet cultural policy, organizing the Institute of Artistic Culture in Moscow. He married Nina Andreievskaya in 1917.
In 1921, facing the prohibition of abstract art by Soviet authorities, he accepted Walter Gropius’s invitation to the Bauhaus in Weimar.
The Bauhaus Period: Maturity and Theorization (1922-1933)
Teaching and Theoretical Research
At the Bauhaus, the revolutionary school merging fine arts and applied arts, Kandinsky taught in the mural painting workshop alongside Paul Klee and Josef Albers. He developed his color theory and published Point and Line to Plane (1926), his second major treatise analyzing the fundamental elements of pictorial composition.
Geometric Style and Major Works
Geometric forms (circles, lines, angles) dominated his production. Yellow-Red-Blue (1925), a monumental work measuring two meters, illustrates Goethe’s Theory of Colors: the birth of red through the encounter of yellow (light) and blue (darkness).
In 1933, facing Nazi persecution, the Bauhaus closed permanently. Kandinsky went into exile in Paris.
Parisian Period: Grand Synthesis and Innovations (1934-1944)
Stylistic Renewal
Settled in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Kandinsky developed a new pictorial language despite isolation in a context dominated by Cubism. Biomorphic forms evoking microscopic organisms appeared in his work. He experimented with innovative textures by mixing sand with pigments.
Final Compositions
Composition IX (1936) presents powerful diagonals whose central form evokes a human embryo. Composition X (1939) displays small colored squares against a black background like stellar fragments, the ultimate synthesis of his oeuvre.
Legacy and Influence of Wassily Kandinsky
Major Theoretical Contributions
Kandinsky bequeathed two fundamental treatises:
- Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911): the spiritual mission of art and the psychology of colors
- Point and Line to Plane (1926): systematic analysis of pictorial composition
Impact on Modern Art
Kandinsky is the undisputed pioneer of geometric abstraction, opening the way for American Abstract Expressionism and all forms of non-figurative art in the twentieth century. His conception of painting as an autonomous language capable of expressing inner life without representation of the visible revolutionized art history.
Death and Posterity
Naturalized as a French citizen in 1939, Kandinsky died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on December 13, 1944, at age 78. He is buried in the Neuilly-sur-Seine New Cemetery alongside his wife Nina.
Principal Works by Kandinsky
- The Blue Rider (1903)
- The Blue Mountain (1908-1909)
- Painting with Black Arch (1912)
- Yellow-Red-Blue (1925)
- Composition IX (1936)
- Composition X (1939)
FAQ: Essential Questions about Wassily Kandinsky
1. Why is Kandinsky considered the father of abstract art?
Kandinsky is recognized as the pioneer of abstract art because he was among the first artists to create entirely non-figurative works, beginning in 1912 with Painting with Black Arch. Unlike other painters who simplified reality, Kandinsky completely liberated color and form from any obligation to representation. He also theorized this approach in his treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911), providing a conceptual foundation for abstraction.
2. What was Kandinsky’s synaesthesia?
Kandinsky’s synaesthesia was his ability to spontaneously associate colors, forms, and sounds. He “heard” colors and “saw” music. This neurological particularity profoundly influenced his art: he titled his works “improvisations” and “compositions” like musical pieces, and sought to create a “visual symphony” where each color possessed its own “inner sound.” Wagner’s opera Lohengrin was a formative experience that revealed to him this direct emotional power.
3. What is the role of color in Kandinsky’s theory?
For Kandinsky, each color possesses a specific psychological effect on the human soul. Yellow represents light and expansion, blue evokes depth and spirituality, red symbolizes vitality and warmth. In Concerning the Spiritual in Art, he develops the idea that colors should not illustrate objects but directly provoke emotions and spiritual sensations. This revolutionary theory made color an autonomous language, capable of communicating without recourse to figurative representation.
4. What was the importance of the Bauhaus for Kandinsky?
The Bauhaus (1922-1933) represents Kandinsky’s period of theoretical and pedagogical maturity. At this revolutionary school, he taught mural painting and systematized his reflection on geometric forms, publishing Point and Line to Plane (1926). The Bauhaus allowed him to develop a scientific approach to pictorial composition, analyzing the relationships between points, lines, planes, and colors. This period also marked the evolution of his style toward a more rigorous geometric abstraction.
5. Where can Kandinsky’s works be seen today?
Kandinsky’s major works are held in the world’s leading museums. The Centre Pompidou in Paris possesses a significant collection, notably Yellow-Red-Blue (1925). The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York houses several compositions, including works from the Bauhaus period. The Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich holds a remarkable collection of his early works and pieces from the Blue Rider period. The State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow present his early works and paintings from his Russian period.
Bibliographical sources
- W. Kandinsky, Complete Writings on Art, éd. K. C. Lindsay et P. Vergo, G. K. Hall & Co., Boston, et Faber and Faber, Londres, 1982
- W. Kandinsky, Die gesammelten Schriften, éd. H. K. Roethel et J. Hahl-Koch, vol. I paru, Benteli, Berne, 1980
- W. Kandinsky, Écrits complets, éd. P. Sers, vol. II et III parus, Denoël-Gonthier, Paris, 1970 et 1975
- W. Kandinsky, Regards sur le passé et autres textes 1912-1922, éd. J.-P. Bouillon, Hermann, Paris, 1974, rééd. 1990
- W. Kandinsky, Du spirituel dans l’art et dans la peinture en particulier, édition établie et présentée par P. Sers, traduit de l’allemand par N. Debrand, traduit du russe par B. du Crest, Denoël, Paris, 1989 ; coll. Folio-Essais, Gallimard, Paris, 1989
- W. Grohmann, Vassily Kandinsky, sa vie, son œuvre, Flammarion, Paris, 1958
- H. Friedel & A. Hoberg dir., Vassily Kandinsky, Citadelles-Mazenod, Paris, 2009
- B. Hermann, Kandinsky, sa vie, Hazan, Paris, 2009
- N. Kandinsky, Kandinsky et moi, trad. J.-M. Gaillard-Paquet, Flammarion, 1978, rééd. 1991
- H. K. Roethel & J. K. Benjamin, Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint, 2 vol., K. Flinker, Paris, 1982 et 1984
- V. E. Barnett, Kandinsky at the Guggenheim, Abbeville Press, New York, 1983
- C. Derouet & J. Boissel, Œuvres de Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Centre Georges-Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Paris, 1984
- A. Zweite & V. E. Barnett, Kandinsky. Dessins et aquarelles, trad. D. Collins et E. Kohler, Flammarion, 1992
- V. E. Barnett, Les Aquarelles de Kandinsky, catalogue raisonné, 2 vol., Société Kandinsky, Paris, 1992-1993
- J. Hahl-Fontaine, Kandinsky, trad. J. Etoré, Vokar, Bruxelles, 1993
