Wassily Kandinsky (Image in black and white)

Vasily Kandinsky (Vasily Vasilyevich Kandinsky) born December 4 (jul.) and December 16 (Greg.) 1866 in Moscow - died 13.12.1944 in Neuilly-sur Seine

"How to paint music - and to realize the inner sound picturesquely."

The Russian-born artist was the main representative of abstract painting. Kandinsky gave up his profession as a lawyer to devote himself exclusively to art. In 1896 he moved to Munich and met his fellow painters and later friends Franz Marc, August Macke and Paul Klee. His first journeys led from Munich to Tunis and Paris. In 1903, Kandinsky met his long-time partner Gabriele Münter, they separated in 1916.

In 1911 (1912) Kandinsky co-founded the artist group "Der Blaue Reiter", named after a painting by him. The group also included Franz Marc, August Macke, Paul Klee and Heinrich Campendonk. The actual goals of the artist group remained diffuse due to differences of opinion and high member turnover. Nevertheless, "The Blue Rider" is considered the "nucleus" of Expressionism because of its development from symbolism to the abstract. At the outbreak of the First World War, Kandinsky returned to Moscow, where he received high academic recognition. In 1918 he became a professor of the State Art Workshops, two years later a professor of the University of Moscow. After his return to Germany in 1922, he also received a professorship as director of the Bauhaus Weimar-Dessau. Together with Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee and Alexej Jawlensky, Kandinsky formed a new art group called "The Blue Four". For the first time, their art was also "exported" to the USA and cleverly marketed there.

Even before his return to Germany, Kandinsky had changed his painting style to the abstract. At the Bauhaus, he consistently pursued this style: circles, lines and colour plates. Point and line to the surface. In addition to his fairy tales and dream images, these geometric elements influenced the Russian Constructivists. "To paint like music" was another of Kandinsky's goals, "to implement the inner sound in a painterly way" and thus to express it. At the turn of the century, architects, directors, stage designers, composers and painters first came up with the idea of a "total work of art", Kandinsky was enthusiastic about it and dealt intensively with this new art movement.
In 1933 Kandinsy had to emigrate to Paris because of the threat of the National Socialists. Here he quickly found a connection to the local art scene and new friends: Juan Miro, Marc Chagall, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian and Hans Arp. Due to his old age, Kandinsky no longer changed his place of residence. He remained in Paris and influenced the early Parisian Surrealists with his late work, characterized by clear yet amorphous forms and his strict compositions.

Text © Jürgen Banse, 2015