Vasily Kandinsky, Berlin, January 1922

Centre Pompidou, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Paris.

< ABOUT THE ARTIST >

Born in Moscow to a wealthy family, Vasily
Kandinsky (1866–1944) spent his early
childhood in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine).

His parents instilled in him an early love sitting at a café table. . . . Both of us were
of music that later influenced his work. fond of blue things, Marc of blue horses and
Though he studied law and economics at I of blue riders. So the title suggested itself.” 1

KANDINSKY
the University of Moscow and his life seemed In 1912 Kandinsky’s book Über das Geistige
destined to follow a conventional path, at in der Kunst (On the Spiritual in Art), the

ABOUT THE ARTIST

age 30 he abruptly decided to abandon his first theoretical treatise on abstraction,
legal career and devote himself to art. was published. It examined the capacity of
color to communicate the artist’s innermost
His decision was prompted by two important psychological and spiritual concerns.
experiences. In 1895 he attended an
Impressionist exhibition, where he saw a Kandinsky’s life was strongly affected by the
Haystack painting by French artist Claude wars and politics that raged in Europe during
Monet (1840–1926). Stirred by the encounter, the early 20th century. With the outbreak of
Kandinsky later realized that the paintings’ World War I in 1914, Kandinsky left Germany
color and composition, not their subject and moved back to Moscow. Following the
matter, caused his response. At a concert in Russian Revolution in 1917, he remained in
1896, he noticed that music can elicit an Russia and in 1921 returned to Germany.
emotional response without a connection to In 1929 he became a German citizen—one
a recognizable subject. This experience led of the three nationalities he held during his
him to believe that painting should aspire to life, along with Russian and French—but
be as abstract as music. the Nazis’ rise to power and their closure in
1933 of the "degenerate" Bauhaus, where he
In 1896 Kandinsky left Russia for Munich, taught, forced him to move to France.
where he studied art and began to pursue his Despite the war and German occupation of
new career. In 1908, while in his early 40s, he France, his works were shown in small
began developing a range of artistic tools, exhibitions. In 1939 he became a French
gradually stripping away recognizable imagery citizen and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine outside
from his work. Kandinsky participated in Paris in 1944. His reputation had been firmly
several of the 20th century’s most influential established in the United States through
and controversial art movements, among numerous shows and his introduction to
them the group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue American collectors, including Solomon R.
Rider), which he founded in 1911 with German Guggenheim, who became one of his most
artist Franz Marc (1880–1916). As Kandinsky enthusiastic supporters.
stated: “We thought up the name while
“In [my picture] Colorful Life, where the task that charmed me most was that of creating a confusion
of masses, patches, lines, I used a ‘bird’s eye view’ to place the figures one above the other.” 2

< FORMATIVE YEARS AND TRAVELS, 1900–07 >

In the first years of the 20th century, and legends, including references to medieval
Kandinsky gradually defined his artistic focus. Russia, folklore, and nostalgic images of his

After a year as a student at the Munich homeland. Creating these fantastic pictorial
Academy of Fine Arts, Kandinsky looked for a worlds allowed him to deal with colors and
more experimental environment and formed forms more freely and break away from

FORMATIVE YEARS AND TRAVELS, 1900–07

the progressive artists’ association in Munich naturalistic rendering.

KANDINSKY
known as Phalanx. Here he met the young
German painter Gabriele Münter (1877–1962), In Colorful Life (Motley Life) (Das bunte
who would become his companion. He Leben, 1907), Kandinsky positions the viewer
enriched his experiences with almost constant slightly above the action, gliding over a
travel, taking extended trips through Austria, multifigure panorama of humanity from a
Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and freely imagined time in ancient Russian
Tunisia. history, composed of dazzling colored spots
against a dark background. Pleasant moments
Beginning in 1905, Kandinsky became contrast with more somber events. The
involved with the most revolutionary figures, such as the rider, the loving couple,
practitioners and styles in the Parisian art and the rower on the peaceful river in the
world, finding inspiration in the expressive background, as well as the Kremlin with its
qualities of Post-Impressionism and the jarring colorful towers and domes on the massive hill
and luminous colors of the Fauves. He saw all appear again in later pictures. More than
paintings by French artists Paul Gauguin once in his writings, Kandinsky refers to this
(1848–1903) and Henri Matisse (1869–1954) painting as crucial to his artistic development.
as well as Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh
(1853–1890). Their dramatic use of color had
an impact on Kandinsky, and gradually the
color in his paintings became more brilliant.

In these initial years of artistic orientation,

Kandinsky borrowed many motifs from myths

Colorful Life (Motley Life) (Das bunte Leben), 1907. Tempera on canvas,
130 x 162.5 cm. Bayerische Landesbank, on permanent loan to the
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
VIEW + DISCUSS
Show: Colorful Life, 1907
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS EXPLORATIONS
This painting’s title, Colorful Life,
▲

• In Colorful Life, Kandinsky combines numerous objects and

suggests that Kandinsky was interested occurrences into a single work. We see people eating, laughing,
in showing us not only a canvas filled and praying; a mother and child; a Russian Orthodox priest; a
with colors, but also one including a group of elders; an archer aiming at a squirrel; a knight in
heterogeneous, often incongruous medieval armor on horseback; a bearded old man; a musician;
mixture of activities and events, worldly someone in a rowboat; and a man running after a woman. By
and spiritual, past and present. Ask using aerial perspective, overlapping images, and his imagination,
Kandinsky unified this mass of activities. As part of his drawing
students how many elements they can
classes, artist and teacher Robert Kaupelis assigned his students
identify and have them create a list of all 3
a similar task. The project was to create a drawing that includes
the things they notice. an astounding number of elements and still appears cohesive.
A typical list might include the following:
Kandinsky places the viewer slightly
▲

above the action, like a hovering bird or 3 mountains 1 bike

1 sidewalk 1 open window
insect. Encourage students to imagine
1 hill 1 path
that they could fly into and across the 1 car 1 clothesline
expanse of this painting. Which areas 1 forest 1 cat
would they like to explore more fully? 1 road 1 mosquito
What about those areas intrigues them? 4 trees (all different) 2 birds
1 fire hydrant 1 worm
In this work Kandinsky combined light- 1 house 1 satellite dish
▲

1 dog 3 clouds
hearted moments with more somber
1 adult 1 airplane
events. Ask students the following 1 bush 1 small crowd of people
questions: Can you find examples of 2 children 1 flower garden
both in this painting? How would you 3 telephone poles and wires 1 fence
describe the overall mood of this work?
Ask students to try this challenging exercise and share the
drawings that result.
Kandinsky confides that his main
▲

challenge in this painting was to depict • Art historians have asked, “How is one to explain Kandinsky’s
“a confusion of masses, patches, [and] 4
fondness for dark or even black backgrounds?” In order to
lines.” How has the use of a bird’s-eye consider how the background can affect a work’s impact, students
view helped him do this? Do your can use Sharpie markers to create a color design on a piece of
students think he successfully clear acetate. When the drawing is complete, they will place a
accomplished his task? white piece of paper under the design and then a black piece of
paper. Encourage them to describe how the same work is
transformed as the background changes from light to dark.

• Throughout his career Kandinsky worked in various mediums,

including woodcuts; drawings; tempera, oil, and watercolor
paintings; and Bavarian glass painting, a folk technique that
Kandinsky admired for its direct, expressive qualities and the
luminosity of color that could be achieved by painting on glass.
On the Internet, the class can research these mediums and
create works that explore at least one of them.
“We thought up the name while sitting at a café Blue Mountain (Der blaue Berg),
1908–09. Oil on canvas,
table. . . . Both of us were fond of blue things, 106 x 96.6 cm. Solomon R.
[Franz] Marc of blue horses, and I of blue riders. Guggenheim Museum,
So the title suggested itself.”5
New York, Solomon R.
Guggenheim Founding
Collection, By gift 41.505

< THE BLAUE REITER >

For Kandinsky, the years 1908–14 were a crucial aesthetic values and his dream of a better,
period of transition and experimentation. After more spiritual future through the transformative
traveling through Europe and North Africa, he powers of art. For Kandinsky, “the horse carries
returned to Germany and became a leading the rider quickly and sturdily. The rider, however,

KANDINSKY
proponent of avant-garde painting. His guides the horse. The artist’s talent carries him

THE BLAUE REITER

approach changed from an almost academic to great heights quickly and sturdily. The artist,
style to one that used bold brushstrokes and however, guides his talent.” 6 The rider is
strong, vibrant colors. featured in many woodcuts, temperas, and
oils, from its first appearance in the artist’s
Kandinsky’s paintings of 1908–09 seem to strike folk-inspired paintings, executed in his native
out in several directions as though aiming to Russia at the turn of the century, to his
assimilate many influences. Although he abstracted landscapes made in Munich during
continued to evoke images from Russian the early 1910s.
folklore and memories of his homeland, his
colors, perhaps inspired by the Fauves, are In 1911, Kandinsky and Marc founded the Blaue
bolder and brighter, and his forms have become Reiter, the highly influential group of artists
more simplified. from the worlds of visual and folk art, music,
and theater, united by a desire to express
In 1909, the year he completed Blue Mountain spiritual values in their work.
(Der blaue Berg, 1908–09), his style was
becoming increasingly abstract and On January 2, 1911, Kandinsky attended a
expressionistic, and the subjects of his paintings concert of works by the Viennese composer
changed from the portrayal of natural events to Arnold Schönberg (1874–1951), whose own
apocalyptic narratives. By 1910 many of his break with tonal and harmonic conventions
canvases shared a common literary source, the paralleled Kandinsky’s challenge to figurative art.
book of Revelation with its visionary descriptions Kandinsky instantly sensed an affinity between
of the conflicts between good and evil and of the music and his own move toward abstraction.
the end of the world. The rider came to signify The two artists began a long-standing friendship
the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who will bring and correspondence, drawing inspiration from
epic destruction after which the world will be one another in their search to create new modes
redeemed. of expression.

Kandinsky’s use of the horse-and-rider motif

symbolized his crusade against conventional
VIEW + DISCUSS
Blue Mountain, 1908–09
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS EXPLORATIONS
Before showing Blue Mountain to the
▲

• Kandinsky used the image of the rider on horseback in many of his

class, divide students into pairs. Ask works. For him it symbolized an artistic and spiritual force that
one student to face away from the could vanquish materialistic thinking and battle the traditional limits
screen, so that he/she cannot see the of artistic expression. The rider appears in many different guises, as
image, while the other looks at the work a romantic fairy-tale figure; a medieval knight; and Saint George,
saving humankind from evil. Encourage students to think about an
and describes it in as much detail as
ideal that they see as threatened in today’s world and invent a
possible. The student who is listening symbol that embodies triumph over that danger.
should draw the image using the
information from the partner’s verbal • Kandinsky and Schönberg established a strong friendship partially
description only. After ten minutes, based on their shared their artistic aspirations. Listen to music
display the results and discuss the composed by Schönberg. Discuss which qualities in his music
experience. might have appealed to Kandinsky. What about his music might
have seemed as daring and experimental as the paintings
Kandinsky was creating?
What seems to be happening here? Let
▲

students imagine this scene as a single • In 1912 Klänge (Sounds), Kandinsky’s book of poems and woodcuts,
snapshot of a longer story. What might was published. His poem “Bassoon” begins with the following lines:
have happened just before this
moment? What will happen afterward? Very large houses suddenly collapsed. Small houses remained standing.
A fat hard egg-shaped orange-cloud suddenly hung over the town. It
They can write or draw their ideas. seemed to hang on to the pointed point of the steep spindly town hall tower
7
and radiated violet.
At this point in his artistic development,
▲

Kandinsky was moving away from Another poem, “Seeing,” opens with the following lines:
depicting real-life scenes and toward a Blue, Blue got up, got up and fell.
more abstract and imagined way of Sharp, Thin whistled and shoved, but didn’t get through.
painting. Discuss which parts of this From every corner came a humming.
FatBrown got stuck—it seemed for all eternity.
work might have been observed and It seemed. It seemed.
which seem to have been imagined. You must open your arms wider.
8
Wider. Wider.

The subjects of Kandinsky’s poems are wide-ranging and include

unlikely transformations in an illogical universe. Have students write
their own poems. Like Kandinsky, they should allow their imaginations
to invent unusual events and settings. Then they can create an image
to accompany their writings.
“It is only over the years that I have learned to exercise patience in such moments and not smash the
picture over my knee. Thus, it was not until after nearly five months that . . . it suddenly dawned on
me what was missing—the white edge. . . . Since the white edge proved the solution to the picture,
I named the whole picture after it.” 9

< TOWARD ABSTRACTION, 1910–14 >

In 1896, just as he was embarking on his career Kandinsky realized that in order to foster public
as an artist, Kandinsky attended a performance acceptance, he would need to develop his style
of Lohengrin (1850), an opera by the German slowly. Critics panned several of his early
composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883), at the exhibitions, and even some fellow artists

TOWARD ABSTRACTION, 1910–14

Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. While listening to frowned on his more abstract works. Therefore,

KANDINSKY
the music, he began to see colors and images. in most of his work from this period, he retained
This experience influenced Kandinsky’s theories fragments of recognizable imagery. Painting
on the relationship between music and painting, with White Border (Moscow) (Bild mit weiβem
by which he equated the sounds of the orchestra’s Rand [Moskau], May 1913), for instance, was
instruments with colors in the artist’s palette. Kandinsky’s response to “those . . . extremely
powerful impressions [he] had experienced in
Another milestone occurred in 1910 when he Moscow—or more correctly, of Moscow itself.” 11
accidentally discovered nonrepresentational art. To illustrate the city’s spirit, he included an
As he returned home at sunset, he entered his extremely abbreviated image of a troika driven
studio and was struck by an “indescribably by a trio of horses (the three diagonal black
beautiful picture, pervaded by an inner glow.” 10 lines in the upper-left portion of the canvas).
He could distinguish forms and colors only and
no meaning. He soon realized that it was one Over the course of just a few years, Kandinsky
of his paintings turned on its side. Soon after he had transformed his work from small-scale
began working on paintings that came to be interpretations of nature to large invented and
considered the first totally abstract works in expressive personal statements, but this creative
modern art. period that began in 1908 ended abruptly in
1914 with the outbreak of World War I.
By 1913 Kandinsky’s aesthetic theories and
aspirations were well developed. He had
mastered the abstract style of expression and
honed his technical skills. By carefully choosing
colors, shapes, and lines, he sought to elicit
specific emotional responses from viewers. He
believed that the inner vision of an artist could
be translated into universal visual statements.

Painting with White Border (Moscow) (Bild mit weiβem Rand [Moskau] ),
May 1913. Oil on canvas, 140.3 x 200.3 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift 37.245
VIEW + DISCUSS
Show: Painting with White Border (Moscow),
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS EXPLORATIONS
May 1913
• Kandinsky wrote about the process of completing this painting.
What do your students notice about
▲

From these writings we know that he imbedded personal symbols

this painting? Ask them to describe the in this work. “I made the first design immediately after my return
forms, colors, and lines. from Moscow in December 1912. . . . In the upper left remained the
troika motif (troika = three-horse sled. This is what I call the three
Kandinsky believed that colors, shapes, lines, curved at the top, which, with different variations, run parallel
▲

to one another. The lines of the backs of the three horses in a

and lines could convey the artist’s inner
Russian troika led me to adopt this form), which I had long since
vision to the viewer. This work was 12
harbored within me.” Although the viewer might see these forms
created in response to a visit to as pure abstraction, to Kandinsky they held meaning and memory.
Moscow. What do your students Have students select an object that has personal meaning for them
surmise about his experience of the city and then reduce that object to its most abstract essence. Discuss
from looking closely at his painting? which aspects of the objects they retained in their symbols and why
they consider them essential.

The years 1908–14 are viewed as

▲

• Kandinsky worked on Painting with White Border (Moscow) from

Kandinsky’s most creative. Compare December 1912 until May 1913. At least 16 drawings, watercolors,
Blue Mountain with Painting with White and oil sketches preceded the final canvas. The artist wrote about
Border (Moscow). How has his how, after months of work, the resolution suddenly occurred to him.
The sudden recognition of how to solve a long-standing problem is
approach changed? Can your students
sometimes called an “aha moment.” Ask students if they have ever
also see similarities? Are there clues had such an experience. Let them describe the moment(s) and the
contained in Blue Mountain that issues that they solved.
suggest how his work would evolve over
the next several years? • Kandinsky is believed to have experienced synesthesia, a condition
in which sounds are perceived, not only audibly, but also with the
visualization of colors. He developed elaborate theories about how
We know from Kandinsky’s writings
▲

colors could evoke emotions as well as conjure the sounds of

that, for him, the three curved shapes in musical instruments. For instance, Kandinsky believed that the color
the upper-left portion of this painting red would elicit strength, energy, and joy. He also equated red with
represent a troika, a Russian carriage, the sound of a trumpet. Your class can learn more about
wagon, or sleigh drawn by a team of Kandinsky’s theories on colors, emotions, and sounds at the Arnold
three horses abreast. Compare a photo Schönberg Center Web site at schoenberg.at/4_exhibits/asc/
Kandinsky/Farbe_e.htm and then complete the table below, adding
of a troika to Kandinsky’s forms. What 13
personal associations with various colors.
similarities do students see?
COLOR EMOTION SOUND

Yellow
Blue
Green
White
Black
Gray
Red
Troika
Brown
Orange
Violet
 “I am working again on my painting ‘Moscow.’
It is slowly taking shape in my imagination.
And what was in the realm of wishing is now
assuming real forms. What I have been
lacking with this idea was depth and richness
of sound, very earnest, complex, and easy at
the same time.” 14

Moscow I (Mockba I), 1916 Oil on canvas, 51.5 x 49.5 cm.

The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

< MOSCOW, 1914–21 >

KANDINSKY
In 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, and early paintings, fused with dramatic forms and

MOSCOW, 1914–21
Kandinsky was forced to leave Munich and colors. “The sun dissolves the whole of Moscow
return to Moscow. He lamented: “Of the 16 into a single spot, which, like a wild tuba, sets all
years that I have been living in Germany, I have one’s soul vibrating.” 19
given myself entirely to the German art world.
How am I now suddenly supposed to feel The October Revolution changed everything.
myself a foreigner?” 15 At 50 years old, he was The son of a tea merchant, Kandinsky had been
starting a new life. independently wealthy, but after the Russian
Revolution, during which a Communist system
The move to Moscow marked a profound replaced Czarist rule, he lost his property
break. The year 1915 was a time of depression during a land redistribution. Consequently, his
and self-doubt, during which he did not paint a plans to build a large studio took second place
single picture. 16 In a June 1916 letter to his to financial concerns such as selling work and
companion Münter, he wrote: “I felt that my old finding employment. World War I and then the
dream was closer to coming true. You know that Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 slowed his artistic
I dreamt of painting a big picture expressing production, partly due to a lack of funds, but
joy, the happiness of life and the universe. also to his work helping organize art institutions
Suddenly I feel the harmony of colors and for the newly formed government. In Russia,
forms that come from this world of joy.” 17 Kandinsky came into contact with younger
During this period Kandinsky painted Moscow I avant-garde artists, including Kazimir Malevich
(Mockba I, 1916). He wrote, “I would love to (1878–1935) and Alexander Rodchenko (1891–
paint a large landscape of Moscow—taking 1956), who practiced a more pared-down,
elements from everywhere and combining them reductive form of abstraction. In Russia,
into a single picture—weak and strong parts, Kandinsky’s spiritual approach was out of step
mixing everything together in the same way as with the dominant principles of rationalism and
the world is mixed of different elements. It must pure geometry. Because of his artistic isolation
be like an orchestra.” 18 Moscow I contains some and wartime privations, Kandinsky left Russia in
of the same romantic fairy-tale qualities of his 1921, never to return again.
VIEW + DISCUSS
Show: Moscow I, 1916
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS EXPLORATIONS
Thispainting is filled with Kandinsky’s
▲

• The cityscape of Moscow, Kandinsky’s beloved hometown,

exuberant vision of Moscow. Ask your
provided inspiration for more than one of his paintings.
class to create a list of all the objects Although Moscow I looks quite different from Painting with
that he has packed into this painting. White Border (Moscow), both works were inspired by Kandinsky’s
experience of the city. Compare and contrast these paintings.
Have students create a list of adjectives Students will likely find many differences. Can they find any
▲

that describe this work, from which they similarities?

can then write a poem titled
• Discuss places that hold strong memories and personal
“Kandinsky’s Moscow” that incorporates associations for your students. Ask each student to recall an
many of the words from the list. experience of such a location and create a work of art, written
Encourage them to share the poems or visual, that expresses one’s relationship with that site.
with the rest of the class. Are they
similar or different in tone? • Many artists have used their affinities with a specific place as a
motivation for their work. Research another artist who has used
his/her relationship, experiences, or memories of a site to spark
Ask students how they think Kandinsky
▲

creativity. The class can write short essays about the artist and
felt about Moscow? How was he able to his/her work. Together you can then compile a compendium of
convey those feelings in this painting? artists who have been inspired by places.
Consider the various elements in this
work—including the lines, shapes, and
colors—and the way they are placed on
the canvas.

Kandinsky wrote, “I feel the general

▲

idea, but the broad composition is not

yet clear. At 8 in the evening I went to
the Kremlin in order to see the
churches from the viewpoint which I
need for the picture. And new riches
opened up before my eyes.”20 In books
or on the Internet, look for pictures of
the Kremlin, a fortress in the center
of Moscow that contains government
offices and historical architecture. What
similarities does the class find between
the photographs and the images in
Kandinsky’s painting? What are the
differences?

After seeing Kandinsky’s vision, ask

▲

students if they want to visit Moscow

and why or why not.
“The circle . . . is the synthesis of the greatest oppositions. [It] combines the concentric and the excentric
in a single form, and in equilibrium. Of the three primary forms [triangle, square, circle], it points most
clearly to the fourth dimension.” 21

< THE BAUHAUS, 1922–33 >

In 1922 Kandinsky was offered a teaching post at In 1933 the Bauhaus came under pressure from
the Bauhaus School of Design. The school had the ruling Nazi party, and deprived of financial
been formed in reaction to many centuries of support, the school was forced to close.
ornate decoration in Western art and adhered to Kandinsky embodied everything that Adolf
revolutionary and unadorned styles such as Hitler’s Germany considered undesirable. He
Constructivism that used modern industrial was Russian, an abstract painter, and a Bauhaus
techniques and materials. Kandinsky’s belief in teacher. His work was termed “degenerate” by

KANDINSKY
art’s ability to transform self and society made the Nazi regime, which objected to virtually all

THE BAUHAUS, 1922–33

him an ideal candidate for the post. There he modern art. Artists working in such styles were
discovered a more sympathetic environment in subject to sanctions, including dismissal from
which to pursue his art. Even though his abstract teaching positions as well as a ban on exhibiting
painting sometimes put him at odds with the or selling art and in some cases on producing
styles that took an increasingly industrial art entirely.
approach to art, teaching at the Bauhaus
enabled him to pursue his work. Kandinsky once more became an exile, this time
in Paris where he continued to work as an artist.
At the Bauhaus, Kandinsky continued to In 1937 several of his earlier works were included
investigate color, form, and their psychological in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art)
and spiritual effects and developed a theory of exhibition in Germany, alongside other works
form based on geometry. He believed that the of modern art that the Nazis removed from
triangle embodied active and aggressive museums. The confiscated work was installed
feelings, and the square represented peace and with defamatory slogans in order to present it
calm. The circle suggested the spiritual realm. as evidence of “cultural decline.” Designed to
inflame public opinion against modernism, the
Between 1926 and 1929, Kandinsky produced a exhibition traveled to major cities throughout
series of ten pictures in which the circle is the Germany and Austria and was viewed by more
only form, culminating in his cosmic and than two million people.
harmonious image Several Circles (Einige Kreise,
January–February 1926). During the Bauhaus
years, the circle’s mystical quality assumed the
importance previously enjoyed by the rider
motif during the Munich period: “I love circles
today in the same way that previously I loved,
e.g., horses—perhaps even more, since I find in
circles more inner possibilities, which is the
reason why the circle has replaced the horse.” 22

Several Circles (Einige Kreise), January–February 1926. Oil on canvas,

140.3 x 140.7 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift 41.283
VIEW + DISCUSS
Show: Several Circles, January–February,
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS EXPLORATIONS
1926
• K
 andinsky was an influential teacher at the Bauhaus. For one of his
Ask students to write their responses drawing lessons, he would assemble a still life from planks and strips
▲

to the following questions: of wood. The students’ objective was not to copy the still life, but
What do you see? rather to translate it into lines of tension or structure and record
How do you react emotionally heavy or light characteristics. Another lesson asked students to place
squares of different colors on black paper and then to repeat the task
to the work?
with white paper. Try one or both of these lessons. Discuss what
What are some possible these activities are intended to teach. Ask your students what they
interpretations of the work? learned from doing them.
Discuss the students’ writings.
Is there agreement or disparity in • Kandinsky believed that the triangle embodied active and aggressive
their reflections? feelings, the circle suggested the spiritual realm, and the square
represented peace and calm. In this exercise students should write
down all the words they associate with these shapes. Are their
Ask students to imagine that this
▲

associations similar to or different from Kandinsky’s? Discuss where

painting was animated. What sort they agree or disagree.
of movement could be seen?
• During his years at the Bauhaus, Kandinsky produced a series of
If this painting was accompanied by paintings that only featured circles. Have students select a single
▲

music, what type of score would the geometric form and use it as the primary focus for a work. When
finished, reflect on whether this single form was overly restrictive
class select for it?
or offered sufficient opportunity for experimentation.

During this period, Kandinsky was

▲

• The Bauhaus school, which operated from 1919 to 1933, pioneered

fascinated with the circle’s formal and new approaches to design, photography, architecture, and art
expressive qualities. Do your students education, and its influence continues to be felt today. Some admire
agree with Kandinsky’s theory that this its forward-thinking views, while others blame the sterile architecture
of many cities on Bauhaus ideals. Debate this question in class with
shape possesses special characteristics?
one team arguing for the Bauhaus approach while the other team
How would the painting’s impact focuses on the ways that its emphasis on function has faltered.
change if another geometric form
was used? • Viewed today, it is difficult to understand why Several Circles was one
of the hundreds of works confiscated by the Nazi regime and labeled
To Kandinsky, the square represented “degenerate.” Research this time in history and in particular the 1937
▲

peace and calm, and this painting Degenerate Art exhibition, which showcased work that the
government found objectionable. What threats to their ideals did the
includes a single, overarching square—
Nazis see embodied in modern art? Explain.
the shape of the canvas itself.
Encourage students to imagine Several
Circles on a differently shaped canvas.
How would its impact change? Explain.
“Paris with its wonderful (intense soft) light had relaxed my palette—there were other colors, other
entirely new forms, and some that I had used years earlier. Naturally I did all this unconsciously.” 23

< FINAL YEARS IN PARIS, 1933–44 >

In 1933 Kandinsky was forced to leave Germany organisms, insects, and embryos. He also
due to political pressures; yet, despite the owned several important scientific books
turmoil, his move to Paris ushered in a highly and encyclopedias, from which he derived
creative period. Freed from teaching and abstracted depictions of minute creatures.
administrative responsibilities, he devoted For instance, in Dominant Curve (Courbe
himself entirely to his art. His late works are dominante, April 1936), a schematized pink-
marked by a general lightening of his palette toned embryo floats in the upper-right

KANDINSKY
FINAL YEARS IN PARIS, 1933–44
with the addition of pastel and acidic colors and corner, while the forms contained in the
the introduction of organic imagery. They also green rectangle in the upper left resemble
express the inventiveness, cheerfulness, and tiny marine animals.
humor of an older artist working peacefully in
his studio at home. Breaking away from the He combined these science-derived forms with
rigidity of Bauhaus geometry, he turned to primary geometric shapes, energetic lines, a
softer, more malleable shapes that often display lively pastel palette, and a set of steps leading
a whimsical, playful quality. nowhere, resulting in free-associative meanings
for the viewer. These buoyant, biomorphic
Although Cubism and Surrealism were images can be read as signs of an optimistic
fashionable in Paris, Kandinsky continued to vision of a peaceful future and hope for social
paint abstractions and defend this style through rebirth and regeneration. The artist considered
his writings in art journals. He painted and drew this painting to be one of his most important
prolifically, putting together an important body works of this time.
of work inspired by images from biology,
creating forms that resembled embryos, larvae, Through both his paintings and written theories
and invertebrates, a world of minuscule living on art and abstraction, Kandinsky continued to
organisms. proclaim that abstraction could communicate
spiritual ideas. Kandinsky died in Paris, in 1944
Kandinsky’s use of biomorphic forms attests to at age 78.
his fascination with the organic sciences,
particularly embryology, zoology, and botany.
During his Bauhaus years, Kandinsky had
clipped and saved illustrations of microscopic

Dominant Curve (Courbe dominante), April 1936. Oil on canvas,

129.4 x 194.2 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection 45.989
VIEW + DISCUSS
Show: Dominant Curve, April 1936
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS EXPLORATIONS
Dominant Curve combines scientific,
▲

• Many people have a favorite color, but fewer have a favorite

geometric, abstract, and figurative forms. palette. Experiment with assembling a palette of five or six colors
Ask the class to find evidence of all four that work harmoniously together. The class can mix these colors
of these types. from paints or use color samples from a local paint store. Do
students have any associations with the palette they chose? Does
the selection suggest a particular environment or emotion? Now
Ask students to describe the way that
▲

try this exercise again, with them choosing a palette of colors that
Kandinsky has used color in this work. they dislike. Discuss which palette was easier to formulate and why.
Does it convey a particular mood,
feeling, sensation, or sense of place? • Kandinsky collected books on biology, zoology, embryology, and
Do your students have any personal botany as well as specimens including a fish embryo, a salamander
associations with this palette or embryo, insects, marine invertebrates, jellyfish, and amoeba.
In addition to his interest in their structures, it is believed that
combination of colors?
Kandinsky also saw spiritual meaning in these specimens as
manifestations of regeneration and the common origin of all life.
After Kandinsky moved to Paris, he
▲

changed the colors in his paintings to Use a biological specimen as the basis for a work of art. The motif
lighter, more pastel hues. As a group, can be as simple as a seed, pod, or leaf. In books, on the Internet,
compare the colors used in Dominant or using a microscope, the class can also look at cellular specimens.
The Encyclopedia of Life Web site at eol.org provides an excellent
Curve to earlier works pictured in this
resource for this project.
unit. Describe how Kandinsky’s palette
changed over the decades. • Kandinsky’s long life spanned great social, political, and
technological changes; two world wars; and several dislocations
Kandinsky titled this work Dominant and relocations. Although he was largely apolitical, the major world
▲

Curve. Discuss if this is an appropriate events listed below had a direct impact on his life. Research the
following events and their influence on world history:
title for the work. Why or why not?
Do students have alternative titles that - 1914: World War I begins.
they would suggest? - 1917: The Bolshevik Revolution occurs.
- 1933: The Nazis close the Bauhaus.
- 1940: The Germans begin occupying France.


5
RESOURCES Kandinsky, quoted in Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Life and
Work, p. 78.
Barnett, V. E., T. Bashkoff, C. Derouet, M. Haldemann, A. Hoberg,
6
G. McMillan, and V. Kowalski. Kandinsky. Exh. Cat. New York: Vasily Kandinsky, “Reminiscences” (1913), in Kandinsky, Complete
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2009. Writings on Art, p. 370.
7
Barnett, Vivian Endicott. Kandinsky at the Guggenheim. New York: Wassily Kandinsky, Sounds, trans. and with introduction by
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1983. Elizabeth R. Napier (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981),
p. 25.
Dabrowski, Magdalena, ed. Kandinsky. Compositions. Exh. Cat.
8
New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1995. Ibid., p. 21.
9
Hahl-Koch, Jelena. Kandinsky. New York: Rizzoli, 1993. Kandinsky, “Reminiscences,” p. 391.
10
Kandinsky, Vasily. Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art. Edited by Hahl-Koch, Kandinsky, p. 159.
Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo. 2 vols. Boston: G. K. Hall and
11
Co.; London: Faber and Faber, 1982; reprint in one vol., New York: Kandinsky, “Reminiscences,” p. 389.
Da Capo Press, 1994.
12
Ibid.
Kandinsky, Wassily. Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated and

KANDINSKY
13
introduction by M. T. H. Sadler. New York: Dover Publications, 1977. Adapted from the Arnold Schönberg Center Web site,
schoenberg.at/4_exhibits/asc/Kandinsky/Farbe_e.htm.
. Sounds. Translated and with an introduction by Elizabeth R.

RESOURCES
14
Napier. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981. Vasily Kandinsky to Gabriele Münter, September 4, 1916, quoted
in Hans K. Rothel and Jean K. Benjamin, Kandinsky: Catalogue
Washton Long, Rose-Carol. Kandinsky: The Development of an Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Volume Two, 1916–1944 (Ithaca, N.Y.:
Abstract Style. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford Cornell University Press, 1984), p. 580.
University Press, 1980.
15
Vasily Kandinsky to Herwarth Walden, August 2, 1914, quoted in
Kandinsky in Paris: 1934–1944. Exh. Cat. New York: Solomon R. lrike Becks-Malorny, Wassily Kandinsky, 1866–1944: The Journey to
Guggenheim Foundation, 1985. Abstraction (Cologne: Taschen, 1999), p. 115.
16
Becks-Malorny, Wassily Kandinsky, 1866–1944, p. 115.
17
WEB SITES Vasily Kandinsky to Gabriele Münter, June 1916, quoted
in ibid., p. 118.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Arts Curriculum 18
guggenheim.org/artscurriculum Ibid., p. 115.
19
Centre Pompidou Educational Dossier: Vassily Kandinsky Kandinsky, “Reminiscences,” p. 360.
centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-kandinsky-mono- 20
EN/ENS-kandinsky-monographie-EN.html Vasily Kandinsky to Gabriele Münter, June 4, 1916, quoted in
Rothel and Benjamin, Kandinsky: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil
Tate Learning Schools Online: Resources for Wassily Kandinsky Paintings, Volume Two, p. 580.
tate.org.uk/learning/schools/wassilykandinsky3917.shtm 21
Vasily Kandinsky to Will Grohmann, October 12, 1930, quoted in
Angelica Zander Rudenstine, The Guggenheim Museum:
Paintings 1880–1945, vol. 1 (New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim
ENDNOTES Foundation, 1976), p. 310.
22
1
Vasily Kandinsky, quoted in Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Vasily Kandinsky to Will Grohmann, 1930, quoted in Becks-
Life and Work, trans. Norbert Guterman (New York: Harry N. Malorny, Wassily Kandinsky, 1866–1944, p. 157.
Abrams, 1958), p. 78. 23
Vasily Kandinsky to Alfred Barr, Jr., July 16, 1944, quoted in Vivian
2
Vasily Kandinsky, “Cologne Lecture” (1914), in Vasily Kandinsky, Endicott Barnett, et al., Kandinsky, exh. cat. (New York: Solomon
Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art, ed. Kenneth C. Lindsay and R. Guggenheim Museum, 2009), p. 70.
Peter Vergo (1982; repr., New York: Da Capo Press, 1994), p. 395.
3
Adapted from Robert Kaupelis, Experimental Drawing
(New York: Watson-Guptill Publications; London: Pitman House,
1980), p. 54.
All works by Vasily Kandinsky © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS),
4
Jelena Hahl-Koch, Kandinsky (New York: Rizzoli, 1993), p. 92. New York/ADAGP, Paris.
VOCABULARY

AVANT-GARDE A way to describe artists who operate outside of FAUVISM A painting style characterized by the often jarring use
the mainstream and strive to push the boundaries of acceptable of color and broad brushstrokes. The Fauves (French for “wild
art. The term was originally used by the military to talk about the beasts”) were bestowed the name by a French art critic after a
soldiers at the front of a battle formation. 1905 exhibition.

BAUHAUS A highly influential state-sponsored school of art, IMPRESSIONISM A late-19th-century style that dealt with the
architecture, and design founded in Weimar, Germany, in 1919. effects of light and color to capture the immediacy or “impression”
Its aims included raising the quality of everyday life through an of a moment.
aesthetic of modern and universal design. It operated until 1933,
when in response to conditions imposed by the Nazis, the faculty NONOBJECTIVE ART Art that uses abstract forms, shapes, and
closed the school. colors that are invented rather than observed, with no ties to the
material world. This style aspires to spiritual and utopian goals.
BLAUE REITER, DER (BLUE RIDER, THE) An early modern artistic
movement (1911–14), founded by Vasily Kandinsky (Russian, POST-IMPRESSIONISM A movement that embraced the idea of art
1866–1944) and Franz Marc (German, 1880–1916). It is as a process of formal design with purely expressive aims and
characterized by a move toward abstraction; vivid, expressive included Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906), Paul Gauguin
colors used to communicate symbolic meaning; a belief in the (French, 1848–1903), Georges Seurat (French, 1859–1891), and
spiritual dimension of art; and a connection between visual art Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890).
and music.
SURREALISM A 20th-century movement in art and literature that
CONSTRUCTIVISM An early-20th-century Russian art movement sought to express the subconscious mind by depicting objects and
that used utilitarian, rational, and often technologically based events as seen in dreams.
shapes and new materials. Its name derives from the “construction”
of abstract sculptures from industrial materials. SYNESTHESIA A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes
the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces
CUBISM A style of painting, developed between 1907 and 1914 the visualization of a color.
as a collaboration between Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963)
and Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), in which objects are
represented as deconstructed cubes and other geometric shapes.

DEGENERATE ART A term used by Nazi officials to describe art

deemed unfit for society, usually applied to avant-garde styles. It is
also the name of an exhibition, organized by the Nazis in 1937, of
works that they had purged from German museums. The show
traveled throughout Germany and Austria, attracting more than
two million visitors, and featured many artists who are now
considered masters of 20th-century art, including Marc Chagall
(Russian, 1887–1985), Max Ernst (German, 1879–1976), Kandinsky,
and Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879–1940), among others.