View source for Wassily Kandinsky

{{Short description|Russian painter and art theorist (1866–1944)}}
{{redirect|Kandinsky}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox artist
| image            = Kandinsky - Vassily Kandinsky by Adolf Elnain Photo credits - Georges Meguerditchian.jpg
| caption          = Kandinsky, {{circa|1925}}
| name             = Wassily Kandinsky
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1866|12|16|df=y}}
| birth_place      = Moscow, Russia
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1944|12|13|1866|12|16|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], France
| citizenship      = {{ubl|Russia|France (from 1939)}}
| field            = Painting
| training         = [[Academy of Fine Arts, Munich]]
| movement         = [[Expressionism]]; [[abstract art]]
| spouse           = {{ubl|{{marriage|Anja Chimiakina|1892|1911|reason=div}}|{{marriage|[[Nina Kandinsky|Nina Nikolaevna Andreevskaya]]|1917}}}}
| partner          = [[Gabriele Münter]] (1902–1916)
| works            = ''[[Auf Weiss II (Sur blanc II)|On White II]]'', ''[[The Blue Rider (painting)|Der Blaue Reiter]]''
| signature        = Kandinsky autograph.png
}}

'''Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky'''{{family name footnote|Wassilyevich|Kandinsky|lang=Eastern Slavic}}{{efn|{{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|v|æ|s|ɪ|l|i|_|k|æ|n|ˈ|d|ɪ|n|s|k|i}} {{respell|VASS|il|ee|_|kan|DIN|skee}}; {{lang-rus|Василий Васильевич Кандинский|Vasiliy Vasil'yevich Kandinskiy|vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj}}}} ({{OldStyleDate|16 December|1866|4 December}}&nbsp;– 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist active in Germany during the late [[Belle Époque]] and [[Interwar era]]s. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of [[abstract art|abstraction]] in [[Western art]]. Born in Moscow, he began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of&nbsp;30.

In 1896, Kandinsky settled in Munich, studying first at [[Anton Ažbe]]'s private school and then at the [[Academy of Fine Arts, Munich|Academy of Fine Arts]]. During this time, he was first the teacher and then the partner of German artist [[Gabriele Münter]]. He returned to Moscow in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I. Following the [[Russian Revolution]], Kandinsky "became an insider in the cultural administration of [[Anatoly Lunacharsky]]"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lindsay |first1=Kenneth |first2=Peter |last2=Vergo |title=Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art |location=New York |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780306805707 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dp59Urv9Qi4C}}</ref> and helped establish the Museum of the Culture of Painting.<ref>Lindsay, Kenneth; Vergo, Peter (1994). Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art. New York: Da Capo Press.</ref> However, by then, "his spiritual outlook... was foreign to the argumentative materialism of Soviet society"<ref>Lindsay, Kenneth and Peter Vergo. "Introduction". Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994.</ref> and opportunities beckoned in Germany, to which he returned in 1920. There, he taught at the [[Bauhaus]] school of art and architecture from 1922 until the [[Nazism|Nazis]] closed it in 1933. He then moved to France, where he lived for the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939 and producing some of his most prominent art. He died in [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]] in 1944.

==Early life==
Kandinsky was born in Moscow, the son of Lidia Ticheeva and Vassily Silvestrovich Kandinsky, a tea merchant.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kandinsk.htm |title=Wassily Kandinsky |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226040033/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kandinsk.htm |archive-date=26 February 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z76AeDVf_RkC&q=Lidia+Ticheeva+Kandinsky&pg=PA7 |title=Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944: a Revolution in Painting |access-date=4 June 2013|isbn=978-3-8228-5982-7 |year=2000 |last1=Düchting |first1=Hajo |last2=Kandinsky |first2=Wassily |publisher=Taschen }}</ref> One of his great-grandmothers was [[Gantimurov family|Princess Gantimurova]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=McMullen |first1=Roy Donald |title=Wassily Kandinsky |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wassily-Kandinsky |website=Britannica|date=20 January 2024 }}</ref> Kandinsky learned from a variety of sources while in Moscow. He studied many fields while in school, including law and economics. Later in life, he would recall being fascinated and stimulated by colour as a child. His fascination with colour symbolism and psychology continued as he grew.

In 1889, at age 23, he was part of an [[Ethnography|ethnographic]] research group that travelled to the [[Vologda]] region north of Moscow. In ''Looks on the Past'', he relates that the houses and churches were decorated with such shimmering colours that upon entering them, he felt that he was moving into a painting. This experience, as well as his study of the region's folk art (particularly the use of bright colours on a dark background), were reflected in much of his early work.

A few years later, he first likened painting to composing music in the manner for which he would become noted, writing "Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmony, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul".<ref name=" Sadler2004">{{cite book |last=Kandinsky|first=Wassily |others=translated by Michael T. H. Sadler (2004)|title=Concerning the Spiritual in Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AV8LSrexjYC&pg=PA32|year=1911 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-1-4191-1377-2|page=32}}</ref>

Kandinsky was also the uncle of Russian-French philosopher [[Alexandre Kojève]] (1902–1968).

== Artistic periods ==
Kandinsky's creation of abstract work followed a long period of development and maturation of intense thought based on his artistic experiences. He called this devotion to [[inner beauty]], fervor of spirit and spiritual desire "inner necessity";<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ashmore |first=Jerome |date=1962 |title=The Theoretical Side of Kandinsky |journal=Criticism|volume=4|issue=3|pages=175–185|jstor=23091068|issn=0011-1589}}</ref> it was a central aspect of his art. Some art historians suggest that Kandinsky's passion for abstract art began when one day, coming back home, he found one of his own paintings [[upside-down painting|hanging upside down]] in his studio and he stared at it for a while before realizing it was his own work,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/jun/25/art1 |title=What drove Kandinsky to abstraction?|work=The Guardian |date=25 June 2006 |language=en-EN}}</ref> suggesting to him the potential power of abstraction.

In 1896, at the age of 30, Kandinsky gave up a promising career teaching law and economics to enroll in the [[Academy of Fine Arts, Munich|Munich Academy]] where his teachers would eventually include [[Franz von Stuck]].<ref name="Düchting">{{cite book |last1=Düchting|first1=Hajo |title=Wassily Kandinsky, 1866–1944: A Revolution in Painting |date=2000|publisher=Taschen |isbn=978-3-8365-3146-7 |page=94}}</ref> He was not immediately granted admission and began learning art on his own. That same year, before leaving Moscow, he saw an exhibit of paintings by [[Claude Monet|Monet]]. He was particularly taken with the impressionistic style of ''[[Haystacks (Monet series)|Haystacks]]''; this, to him, had a powerful sense of colour almost independent of the objects themselves. Later, he would write about this experience:

{{blockquote|That it was a haystack the catalogue informed me. I could not recognise it. This non-recognition was painful to me. I considered that the painter had no right to paint indistinctly. I dully felt that the object of the painting was missing. And I noticed with surprise and confusion that the picture not only gripped me, but impressed itself ineradicably on my memory. Painting took on a fairy-tale power and splendour.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lindsay|first=Kenneth C. |title=Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art|year=1982|publisher=G.K. Hall & Co. |page=363}}</ref> |Wassily Kandinsky}}

Kandinsky was similarly influenced during this period by [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin]]'' which, he felt, pushed the limits of music and melody beyond standard lyricism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ruckblick|last=Kandinsky|first=Wassily|publisher=Woldemar Klein Verlag|year=1955|location=Baden-Baden|page=12}}</ref> He was also spiritually influenced by [[Madame Blavatsky]] (1831–1891), the best-known exponent of [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophy]]. Theosophical theory postulates that creation is a geometrical progression, beginning with a single point. The creative aspect of the form is expressed by a descending series of circles, triangles, and squares. Kandinsky's book ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art'' (1910) and ''Point and Line to Plane'' (1926) echoed this theosophical tenet. Illustrations by John Varley in ''[[Thought-Forms (book)|Thought-Forms]]'' (1901) influenced him visually.<ref>[[Sixten Ringbom]], The sounding cosmos; a study in the spiritualism of Kandinsky and the genesis of abstract painting, (Abo [Finland]: Abo Akademi, 1970), pp. 89 & 148a.</ref>

=== {{anchor|Artistic metamorphosis (1896–1911)}}Metamorphosis ===
[[File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1908 - Munich-Schwabing with the Church of St-Ursula.jpg|thumb|upright| ''Munich-Schwabing with the Church of St. Ursula'' (1908)|alt=Colourful abstract painting with buildings and a church in the background]]

In the summer of 1902, Kandinsky invited [[Gabriele Münter]] to join him at his summer painting classes just south of Munich in the Alps. She accepted the offer and their relationship became more personal than professional.
Art school, usually considered difficult, was easy for Kandinsky. It was during this time that he began to emerge as an art theorist as well as a painter. The number of his existing paintings increased at the beginning of the 20th century; much remains of the landscapes and towns he painted, using broad swaths of colour and recognisable forms. For the most part, however, Kandinsky's paintings did not feature any human figures; an exception is ''Sunday, Old Russia'' (1904), in which Kandinsky recreates a highly colourful (and fanciful) view of peasants and nobles in front of the walls of a town. ''Couple on Horseback'' (1907) depicts a man on horseback, holding a woman as they ride past a Russian town with luminous walls across a blue river. The horse is muted while the leaves in the trees, the town, and the reflections in the river glisten with spots of colour and brightness. This work demonstrates the influence of [[pointillism]] in the way the depth of field is collapsed into a flat, luminescent surface. [[Fauvism]] is also apparent in these early works. Colours are used to express Kandinsky's experience of subject matter, not to describe objective nature.
[[File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1903, The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter), oil on canvas, 52.1 x 54.6 cm, Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Zurich.jpg|left|thumb|240px|upright|''[[The Blue Rider (Kandinsky painting)|The Blue Rider]]'' (1903)|alt=Painting of white horse and blue rider galloping across a green meadow from right to left]]
Perhaps the most important of his paintings from the first decade of the 1900s was ''[[The Blue Rider (Kandinsky painting)|The Blue Rider]]'' (1903), which shows a small cloaked figure on a speeding horse rushing through a rocky meadow. The rider's cloak is medium blue, which casts a darker-blue shadow. In the foreground are more amorphous blue shadows, the counterparts of the fall trees in the background. The blue rider in the painting is prominent (but not clearly defined), and the horse has an unnatural gait (which Kandinsky must have known) {{Citation needed|reason=why must he have known?|date=July 2023}}. This intentional disjunction, allowing viewers to participate in the creation of the artwork, became an increasingly conscious technique used by Kandinsky in subsequent years; it culminated in the abstract works of the 1911–1914 period. In ''The Blue Rider'', Kandinsky shows the rider more as a series of colours than in specific detail. This painting is not exceptional in that regard when compared with contemporary painters, but it shows the direction Kandinsky would take only a few years later.

From 1906 to 1908, Kandinsky spent a great deal of time travelling across Europe (he was an associate of the [[Blue Rose (art group)|Blue Rose]] symbolist group of Moscow) until he settled in the small [[Bavaria]]n town of [[Murnau am Staffelsee|Murnau]]. In 1908, he bought a copy of ''[[Thought-Forms (book)|Thought-Forms]]'' by [[Annie Besant]] and [[Charles Webster Leadbeater]]. In 1909, he joined the [[Theosophical Society]]. ''The Blue Mountain'' (1908–1909) was painted at this time, demonstrating his trend toward abstraction. A mountain of blue is flanked by two broad trees, one yellow and one red. A procession, with three riders and several others, crosses at the bottom. The faces, clothing, and saddles of the riders are each a single colour, and neither they nor the walking figures display any real detail. The flat planes and the contours also are indicative of Fauvist influence. The broad use of colour in ''The Blue Mountain'' illustrates Kandinsky's inclination toward an art in which colour is presented independently of form, and in which each colour is given equal attention. The composition is more planar; the painting is divided into four sections: the sky, the red tree, the yellow tree, and the blue mountain with the three riders.

In 1909, Wassily Kandinsky witnessed a presentation [[Aleksandra Unkovskaya]] made (at the Theosophical Congress in [[Budapest]]) regarding her innovative system in music education,  sound-to-colour synesthesia or [[Chromesthesia]] which is a type of synesthesia in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of colour, shape and movement,  which led to his own discoveries in his art. Kandinsky stated: ''"to impress a tune upon unmusical children with the help of colours{{nbsp}}... She (Unkovskaya) has constructed a special, precise method of 'translating' the colorus of nature into music, of painting the sounds of nature, of seeing sounds."'' This transcended the spiritual in art and led him to develop the concept and formula of a chain reaction experience (reciprocal relationship/artist and viewer): ''"Emotion — sensation — the work of art — sensation — emotion."'' The concept was based on the principle of the resonance of string instruments.<ref>Воспоминания : репринт издания журнала "Вестник теософии", 1917 г. | Memoirs: reprint of the journal "Bulletin of Theosophy", 1917.</ref>

<gallery>
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1901 - Akhtyrka.jpg|''Akhtyrka'', 1901, [[Lenbachhaus]], Kunstarealm, Munich
File:Kandinsky Sunday.jpg| ''Sunday (Old Russian)'', 1904, [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]], Rotterdam
File:Kandinsky - Lied (Chanson), 1906.png|''Lied'' (''Chanson''), 1906
File:Wassily Kandinsky - Reitendes Paar - GMS 26 - Lenbachhaus.jpg|''Couple on Horseback'', 1906–07, [[Lenbachhaus]], Munich
File:Blue Mountain by Vasily Kandinsky, 1908-09.JPG|''Blue Mountain'', 1908–09, [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], New York
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1908 - Houses in Munich.jpg|''Houses in Munich'', 1908, [[Von der Heydt Museum]], Wuppertal
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1909 - Murnau train et château.jpg|''Murnau, train & castle'', 1909, [[Lenbachhaus]], Munich
</gallery>

=== Blue Rider Period (1911–1914) ===
{{See also|Der Blaue Reiter}}
[[File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1910, Landscape with Factory Chimney, oil on canvas, 66.2 x 82 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|thumb|Wassily Kandinsky, 1910, ''Landscape with Factory Chimney'', oil on canvas, {{cvt|66.2|x|82|cm}}, [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]]]]

Kandinsky's paintings from this period are large, expressive coloured masses evaluated independently from forms and lines; these serve no longer to delimit them, but overlap freely to form paintings of extraordinary force. Music was important to the birth of abstract art since it is abstract by nature; it does not try to represent the exterior world, but expresses the inner feelings of the soul in an immediate way. Kandinsky sometimes used musical terms to identify his works; he called his most spontaneous paintings "improvisations" and described more elaborate works as "compositions."

In addition to painting, Kandinsky was an art theorist; his influence on the history of [[Western art]] stems perhaps more from his theoretical works than from his paintings. He helped found the [[Neue Künstlervereinigung München]] (Munich New Artists' Association), becoming its president in 1909. However, the group could not integrate the radical approach of Kandinsky (and others) with conventional artistic concepts and the group dissolved in late 1911. Kandinsky then formed a new group, ''The Blue Rider'' (''[[Der Blaue Reiter]]'') with like-minded artists such as [[August Macke]], [[Franz Marc]], [[Albert Bloch]], and [[Gabriele Münter]]. The group released an almanac (''The Blue Rider Almanac'') and held two exhibits. More of each were planned, but the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914 ended these plans and sent Kandinsky back to Russia via Switzerland and Sweden.

[[File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1912 - Improvisation 27, Garden of Love II.jpg|thumb|''Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II)'', 1912, oil on canvas, {{cvt|120.3|x|140.3|cm}}, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York. Exhibited at the 1913 [[Armory Show]]]]

His writing in ''The Blue Rider Almanac'' and the treatise "On the Spiritual in Art" (which was released in 1910) were both a defence and promotion of abstract art and an affirmation that all forms of art were equally capable of reaching a level of spirituality. He believed that colour could be used in a painting as something autonomous, apart from the visual description of an object or other form.

These ideas had an almost-immediate international impact, particularly in the English-speaking world.<ref>See Michael Paraskos, "English Expressionism," MRes Thesis, University of Leeds, Leeds 1997, p103f</ref> As early as 1912, ''On the Spiritual in Art'' was reviewed by [[Michael Sadleir]] in the London-based ''Art News.''<ref>Michael Sadleir, Review of Uber da Geistige an der Kunst by Wassily Kandinsky, in "The Art News," 9 March 1912, p. 45.</ref> Interest in Kandinsky grew quickly when Sadleir published an English translation of ''On the Spiritual in Art'' in 1914. Extracts from the book were published that year in [[Percy Wyndham Lewis]]'s periodical ''[[BLAST (magazine)|Blast]],'' and [[Alfred Orage]]'s weekly cultural newspaper ''[[The New Age]]''. Kandinsky had received some notice earlier in Britain, however; in 1910, he participated in the Allied Artists' Exhibition (organised by [[Frank Rutter]]) at London's [[Royal Albert Hall]]. This resulted in his work being singled out for praise in a review of that show by the artist [[Spencer Frederick Gore]] in ''The Art News''.<ref>Spencer Frederick Gore, "The Allied Artists' Exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall (London)", in "The Art News," 4 August 1910, p. 254.</ref>

Sadleir's interest in Kandinsky also led to Kandinsky's first works entering a British art collection; Sadleir's father, [[Michael Sadler (educationist)|Michael Sadler]], acquired several wood-prints and the abstract painting ''Fragment for Composition VII'' in 1913 following a visit by father and son to meet Kandinsky in Munich that year. These works were displayed in [[Leeds]], either in the university or the premises of the [[Leeds Arts Club]], between 1913 and 1923.<ref>Tom Steele, "Alfred Orage and the Leeds Arts Club 1893–1923" (Mitcham, Orage Press, 2009) 218f</ref>

<gallery>
File:Untitled (First Abstract Watercolor) by Wassily Kandinsky.jpg|Untitled ''First Abstract Watercolour'', 1910–1913, [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris<ref>[https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cMejBMj First Abstract Watercolor], [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris</ref>
File:Kandinsky - Die Kuh PA291123.jpg|''The Cow'', 1910, [[Lenbachhaus]], Munich
File:Kandinsky Study for Improvisation V MIA 67342.jpg|''Study for Improvisation V'', 1910
File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1911, Reiter (Lyrishes), oil on canvas, 94 x 130 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.jpg|''Lyrical'', 1911
File:Vassilly Kandinsky, 1912 - Landscape With Two Poplars.jpg|''Landscape With Two Poplars'', 1912
File:Mit dem schwarzen Bogen - Kandinsky, Pompidou.jpg|''Mit Dem Schwarzen Bogen'', 1912, [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris<ref>[https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/artworks?filters=query%3AAM%201976-852 Mit Dem Schwarzen Boden], [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris</ref>
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Landscape With Red Spots.jpg|''[[Landscape with Red Spots (Kandinsky)|Landscape with Red Spots, No 2]]'', 1913
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles.jpg|''Colour Study: Squares with Concentric Circles'', 1913
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Composition 6.jpg|[[Composition VI|''Composition 6'']], 1913
File:Kandinsky - Bild mit rotem Fleck, Pompidou.jpg|''Painting with a Red Stain'', 1914
</gallery>

=== Return to Russia (1914–1921) ===
{{blockquote|The sun melts all of Moscow down to a single spot that, like a mad tuba, starts all of the heart and all of the soul vibrating. But no, this uniformity of red is not the most beautiful hour. It is only the final chord of a symphony that takes every colour to the zenith of life that, like the fortissimo of a great orchestra, is both compelled and allowed by Moscow to ring out.|Wassily Kandinsky<ref>{{cite book |title=Kandinsky |first=Hajo |last=Duchting |publisher=[[Taschen]]  |year=2007 |page=7 |isbn=978-3836531467}}</ref>}}

{{citation needed span|date=July 2025|From 1918 to 1921, Kandinsky was involved in the cultural politics of Russia and collaborated in art education and museum reform. He painted little during this period, but devoted his time to artistic teaching with a program based on form and colour analysis; he also helped organize the [[Institute of Artistic Culture]] in Moscow (of which he was its first director). His spiritual, expressionistic view of art was ultimately rejected by the radical members of the institute as too individualistic and bourgeois. In 1921, Kandinsky was invited to go to Germany to attend the [[Bauhaus]] of [[Weimar]] by its founder, architect [[Walter Gropius]].}}

=== Back in Germany and the Bauhaus (1922–1933) ===
[[File:Kandinsky - Jaune Rouge Bleu.jpg|thumb|''Yellow-Red-Blue'', 1925, [[Musée National d'Art Moderne]], Paris]]

In May 1922, he attended the [[International Congress of Progressive Artists]] and signed the "Founding Proclamation of the Union of Progressive International Artists".<ref name="Review">{{cite web |last1=van Doesburg |first1=Theo |title=De Stijl, "A Short Review of the Proceedings [of the Congress of International Progressive Artists], Followed by the Statements Made by the Artists' Groups" (1922) |url=https://modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/de-stijl-%E2%80%9Ca-short-review-of-the-proceedings-of-the-congress-of-international-progressive-artists-followed-by-the-statements-made-by-the-artists%E2%80%99-groups%E2%80%9D-1922/ |website=modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com |publisher=Ross Lawrence Wolfe |access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref>

Kandinsky taught the basic design class for beginners and the course on advanced theory at the [[Bauhaus]]; he also conducted painting classes and a workshop in which he augmented his colour theory with new elements of form psychology. The development of his works on forms study, particularly on points and line forms, led to the publication of his second theoretical book (''Point and Line to Plane'') in 1926. His examinations of the effects of forces on straight lines, leading to the contrasting tones of curved and angled lines, coincided with the research of Gestalt psychologists, whose work was also discussed at the Bauhaus.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kandinsky |last=Düchting |first=Hajo |publisher=Taschen |year=2013 |isbn=978-3-8365-3146-7|pages = 68}}</ref> Geometrical elements took on increasing importance in both his teaching and painting—particularly the circle, half-circle, the angle, straight lines and curves. This period was intensely productive. This freedom is characterised in his works by the treatment of planes rich in colours and gradations—as in ''Yellow – red – blue'' (1925), where Kandinsky illustrates his distance from the [[Constructivism (art)|constructivism]] and [[suprematism]] movements influential at the time.

[[File:Meisterhaus Kandinsky-Klee.JPG|thumb|House of Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky in [[Dessau]]]]
The {{convert|2|m|ftin|adj=mid|spell=in|-wide}} ''Yellow – red – blue'' (1925) of several main forms: a vertical yellow rectangle, an inclined red cross and a large dark blue circle; a multitude of straight (or sinuous) black lines, circular arcs, monochromatic circles and scattered, coloured checker-boards contribute to its delicate complexity. This simple visual identification of forms and the main coloured masses present on the canvas is only a first approach to the inner reality of the work, whose appreciation necessitates deeper observation—not only of forms and colours involved in the painting but their relationship, their absolute and relative positions on the canvas and their harmony.

Kandinsky was one of ''Die Blaue Vier'' (''The Blue Four''), which was a group that was formed in 1923 with [[Paul Klee]], [[Lyonel Feininger]] and [[Alexej von Jawlensky]] at the instigation of [[Galka Scheyer]], who promoted their work in the United States from 1924 onward. Due to right-wing hostility, the Bauhaus left Weimar for [[Dessau]] in 1925. Following a Nazi smear campaign, the Bauhaus left Dessau in 1932 for Berlin, where it remained until its dissolution in July 1933. Kandinsky then left Germany, settling in Paris.

<gallery>
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1922 - Kleine Welten I (new file).jpg|''Small worlds I'', 1922, [[National Gallery of Denmark]], Copenhagen<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KKS13672/1?q=Wassily%20Kandinsky&page=2|title = Kleine Welten, 1922}}</ref>
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1923 - On White II.jpg|''[[Auf Weiss II (Sur blanc II)|On White II]]'', 1923, [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1923 - Circles in a Circle.jpg|''Circles in a Circle'', 1923, [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]], Philadelphia
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1926 - Several Circles, Gugg 0910 25.jpg|''Several Circles'', 1926, [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], New York City
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1927 - Molle rudesse.jpg|''Soft Hard'', 1927
File:Wassily Kandinsky - Inner Alliance - 1929.jpg|''Inner Alliance'', 1929, [[Albertina]], Vienna
</gallery>

=== Great Synthesis (1934–1944) ===

Living in an apartment in Paris, Kandinsky created his work in a living-room studio. [[Biomorphism|Biomorphic]] forms with supple, non-geometric outlines appear in his paintings—forms which suggest microscopic organisms but express the artist's inner life. Kandinsky used original colour compositions, evoking Slavic popular art. He also occasionally mixed sand with paint to give a granular, rustic texture to his paintings.

This period corresponds to a synthesis of Kandinsky's previous work in which he used all elements, enriching them. In 1936 and 1939, he painted his final two major compositions, the type of elaborate canvases he had not produced for many years. ''Composition IX'' has highly contrasted, powerful diagonals whose central form gives the impression of an embryo in the womb. Small squares of colours and coloured bands stand out against the black background of ''Composition X'' as star fragments (or [[Solar filament|filaments]]), while enigmatic [[hieroglyph]]s with pastel tones cover a large maroon mass which seems to float in the upper-left corner of the canvas. In Kandinsky's work, some characteristics are obvious, while certain touches are more discreet and veiled; they reveal themselves only progressively to those who deepen their connection with his work.<ref>Michel Henry, ''Seeing the invisible, on Kandinsky'', Continuum, 2009, pp. 38–45 (The disclosure of pictoriality).</ref> He intended his forms (which he subtly harmonised and placed) to resonate with the observer's soul.

<gallery>
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1935 - Brown with supplement.jpg|''Brown with supplement'', 1935, [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]], Rotterdam
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1936 - Composition IX.jpg|''Composition IX'', 1936, [[Musée national d'art moderne]], Paris
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1939 - Composition 10.jpg|''Composition X'', 1939, [[Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen]], Düsseldorf
File:Kandinsky - Various Actions, 1941.jpg|''Various Actions'', 1941, [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], New York
</gallery>

== Kandinsky's conception of art ==
{{Main|List of paintings by Wassily Kandinsky}}

=== The artist as prophet ===
[[File:Composition VII - Wassily Kandinsky, GAC.jpg|thumb|''Composition&nbsp;VII'', [[Tretyakov Gallery]]. According to Kandinsky, this is the most complex piece he ever painted (1913).|alt=Large, colourful abstract painting]]
Writing that "music is the ultimate teacher",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/quotes.php|title=Wassily Kandinsky – Quotes|website=www.wassilykandinsky.net|access-date=17 September 2016}}</ref> Kandinsky embarked upon the first seven of his ten ''Compositions''. The first three survive only in black-and-white photographs taken by fellow artist and friend [[Gabriele Münter]]. ''Composition I'' (1910) was destroyed by a British air raid on the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony on the night of 14 October 1944.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lost Art: Wassily Kandinsky|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/wassily-kandinsky-1382/lost-art-wassily-kandinsky |website=Tate}}</ref>

While studies, sketches, and improvisations exist (particularly of ''Composition II''), a Nazi raid on the Bauhaus in the 1930s resulted in the confiscation of Kandinsky's first three ''Compositions''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gropius House |url=https://gropius.house/location/bauhauslers/ |access-date=2025-10-31 |language=en}}</ref> All three were destroyed during World War II.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kandinsky compositions: schedule of the exhibition The Museum of Modern Art, January 25 - April, 25, 1995; Los Angeles County Museum of Art June 1 - September 3, 1995 |date=1995 |publisher=The Museum of Modern Art |isbn=978-0-87070-406-2 |editor-last=Kandinsky |editor-first=Wassily |location=New York |editor-last2=Dabrowski |editor-first2=Magdalena |editor-last3=The Museum of Modern Art}}</ref>

Some of Kandinsky's works such as his now-lost painting ''Zweierlei Rot'' (1916) were displayed in the state-sponsored [[Degenerate Art exhibition]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Behr |first=Dr Shulamith |date=2021-06-18 |title=Wassily Kandinsky's 'Tensions calmées', 1937: Challenging 'Entartete Kunst' |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/wassily-kandinskys-tensions-calmees-1937-challenging-entartete-kunst |access-date=2025-10-31 |website=Sothebys.com |language=en}}</ref> Works confiscated during the "degenerate art" campaign were either sold, exchanged or destroyed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-01-30 |title=Fate of Germany's 'degenerate art' revealed |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-25962192 |access-date=2025-10-31 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> A full inventory of more than 16,000 pieces of art can be accessed through the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] website. This includes works by Kandinsky.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Explore 'Entartete Kunst': The Nazis' inventory of 'degenerate art' · V&A |url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/explore-entartete-kunst-the-nazis-inventory-of-degenerate-art |access-date=2025-10-31 |website=Victoria and Albert Museum |language=en}}</ref>

Fascinated by [[Christian eschatology]] and the perception of a coming New Age,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rabinovich|first1=Yakov|title=Kandinsky: Master of the Mystic Arts|url=http://www.invisiblebooks.com/Kandinsky.htm|access-date=25 December 2015|archive-date=7 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807223320/http://www.invisiblebooks.com/Kandinsky.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> a common theme among Kandinsky's first seven ''Compositions'' is the [[apocalypse]] (the end of the world as we know it). Writing of the "artist as prophet" in his book, ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art'', Kandinsky created paintings in the years immediately preceding World War I showing a coming cataclysm which would alter individual and social reality. Having a devout belief in [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Bauhaus Group: Six Masters of Modernism|url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/winter11/columbia_forum|website=Columbia College Today|access-date=25 December 2015|archive-date=10 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160710195635/http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/winter11/columbia_forum|url-status=dead}}</ref> Kandinsky drew upon the biblical stories of [[Noah's Ark]], [[Jonah]] and the whale, Christ's [[resurrection]], the [[four horsemen of the Apocalypse]] in the [[book of Revelation]], Russian folktales and the common mythological experiences of death and rebirth. Never attempting to picture any one of these stories as a narrative, he used their veiled imagery as symbols of the archetypes of death–rebirth and destruction–creation he felt were imminent in the pre-[[World War I]] world.

As he stated in ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art'' (see below), Kandinsky felt that an authentic artist creating art from "an internal necessity" inhabits the tip of an upward-moving pyramid. This progressing pyramid is penetrating and proceeding into the future. What was odd or inconceivable yesterday is commonplace today; what is ''avant garde'' today (and understood only by the few) is common knowledge tomorrow. The modern artist–prophet stands alone at the apex of the pyramid, making new discoveries and ushering in tomorrow's reality. Kandinsky was aware of recent scientific developments and the advances of modern artists who had contributed to radically new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.

''Composition IV'' and later paintings are primarily concerned with evoking a spiritual resonance in viewer and artist. As in his painting of the apocalypse by water (''Composition VI''), Kandinsky puts the viewer in the situation of experiencing these epic myths by translating them into contemporary terms (with a sense of desperation, flurry, urgency, and confusion). This spiritual communion of viewer-painting-artist/prophet may be described within the limits of words and images.

=== Artistic and spiritual theorist ===
[[File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Composition 6.jpg|thumb|''Composition VI'' (1913)|alt=Rectangular, multicoloured abstract painting]]
As the ''[[Der Blaue Reiter]] Almanac'' essays and theorising with composer [[Arnold Schoenberg]] indicate, Kandinsky also expressed the communion between artist and viewer as being available to both the senses and the mind ([[synesthesia]]). Hearing tones and chords as he painted, Kandinsky theorised that (for example), yellow is the colour of middle [[C (musical note)|C]] on a brassy trumpet; black is the colour of closure, and the end of things; and that combinations of colours produce vibrational frequencies, akin to chords played on a piano. In 1871 the young Kandinsky learned to play the piano and cello.<ref>François Le Targat, ''Kandinsky'', Twentieth Century masters series, Random House Incorporated, 1987, p. 7, {{ISBN|0847808106}}</ref><ref>Susan B. Hirschfeld, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Hilla von Rebay Foundation, ''Watercolours by Kandinsky at the Guggenheim Museum: a selection from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Hilla von Rebay Foundation'', 1991.</ref>

Kandinsky also developed a theory of geometric figures and their relationships, claiming (for example) that the circle is the most peaceful shape and represents the human soul.{{failed verification|date=April 2021}} These theories are explained in ''Point and Line to Plane''.

Kandinsky's legendary stage design for a performance of [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]]'s ''[[Pictures at an Exhibition]]'' illustrates his synesthetic concept of a universal correspondence of forms, colours and musical sounds.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bauhaus|last=Fiedler|first=Jeannine|publisher=h.f.ullmann publishing GmbH|year=2013|isbn=978-3-8480-0275-7|location=Germany|page=262}}</ref> In 1928, the stage production premiered at a theater in Dessau. In 2015, the original designs of the stage elements were animated with modern video technology and synchronized with the music according to the preparatory notes of Kandinsky and the director's script of Felix Klee.

In another episode with Münter during the Bavarian [[abstract expressionist]] years, Kandinsky was working on ''Composition VI''. From nearly six months of study and preparation, he had intended the work to evoke a flood, baptism, destruction, and rebirth simultaneously. After outlining the work on a mural-sized wood panel, he became blocked and could not go on. Münter told him that he was trapped in his intellect and not reaching the true subject of the picture. She suggested he simply repeat the word ''uberflut'' ("deluge" or "flood") and focus on its sound rather than its meaning. Repeating this word like a mantra, Kandinsky painted and completed the monumental work in a three-day span.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|date=13 June 2012|title=Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction, room guide, room 6|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/kandinsky-path-abstraction/kandinsky-path-abstraction-room-guide-5|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130226042555/http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/kandinsky-path-abstraction/kandinsky-path-abstraction-room-guide-5|archive-date=26 February 2013|access-date=10 August 2021|website=[[Tate]]|language=en-GB|quote=Kandinsky made more studies for this composition than for any other – over thirty drawings, watercolours and sketches. However, according to Gabriele Münter, the final version was painted in just three days.}}</ref>{{citation needed|reason=Should it be "überflut"?|date=October 2011}}

== Signature style ==
[[File:Portrait de Kandinsky, Hugo Erfurth, 1925.png|thumb|Kandinsky, by [[Hugo Erfurth]], 1925]]
Wassily Kandinsky's art has a confluence of music<ref>{{Cite web|last=Arn|first=Jackson|date=30 May 2019|title=How Music Motivated Artists from Matisse to Kandinsky to Reinvent Painting|url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-music-motivated-artists-matisse-kandinsky-reinvent-painting|access-date=27 October 2021|website=Artsy|language=en}}</ref> and spirituality. With his appreciation for music of his times and kinesthetic disposition,<ref>{{Cite web|date=13 December 2020|title=Discover the Famous Works of Wassily Kandinsky, the Artist Who Painted Music|url=https://mymodernmet.com/wassily-kandinsky/|access-date=27 October 2021|website=My Modern Met|language=en}}</ref> Kandinsky's artworks have a marked style of expressionism in his early years. But he embraced all types of artistic styles of his times and his predecessors i.e. [[Art Nouveau]] (sinuous organic forms), Fauvism and [[Blaue Reiter]] (shocking colours), [[Surrealism]] (mystery) and Bauhaus ([[Constructivism (art)|constructivism]]) only to move towards abstractionism as he explored spirituality in art. His object-free paintings<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vasily Kandinsky Replaces the Object|url=https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/arts-letters/vasily-kandinsky-replaces-object|access-date=27 October 2021|website=Lapham's Quarterly|language=en}}</ref> display spiritual abstraction suggested by sounds and emotions through a unity of sensation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Art As Sensation: Four Painters As Philosophers Of Art {{!}} Issue 57 {{!}} Philosophy Now|url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/57/Art_As_Sensation_Four_Painters_As_Philosophers_Of_Art|access-date=27 October 2021|website=philosophynow.org}}</ref> Driven by the Christian faith and the inner necessity<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ashmore|first=Jerome|title=The Theoretical Side of Kandinsky|journal=Criticism|volume=4|issue=3 |pages=175–85|date=1962 |jstor=23091068 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23091068 }}</ref> of an artist, his paintings have the ambiguity of the form rendered in a variety of colours as well as resistance against conventional aesthetic values of the art world.

His signature or [[Style (visual arts)|individual style]] can be further defined and divided into three categories over the course of his art career: Impressions (representational element), Improvisations (spontaneous emotional reaction) and Compositions (ultimate works of art).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kandinsky |first=Wassily |url=https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kandinsky1912 |title=Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei ; mit acht Tafeln und zehn Originalholzschnitten |publisher=Piper |year=1912 |edition=3. Aufl. |location=München |doi=10.11588/diglit.27758}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

As Kandinsky started moving away from his early inspiration from Impressionism, his paintings became more vibrant, pictographic and expressive with more sharp shapes and clear linear qualities.

But eventually, Kandinsky went further, rejecting pictorial representation with more synesthetic swirling hurricanes of colours and shapes, eliminating traditional references to depth and laying out bare and abstracted glyphs; however, what remained consistent was his spiritual pursuit of expressive forms.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Emotional harmony is another salient feature in the later works of Kandinsky.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kandinsky|first=W.|title=The Art of Spiritual Harmony|publisher=Read Books|date=October 2008|isbn=9781443755474|language=English}}</ref> With diverse dimensions and bright hues balanced through a careful juxtaposition of proportion and colours, he substantiated the universality of shapes in his artworks thus paving the way for further abstraction.

Kandinsky often used black in his paintings to heighten the impact of brightly coloured forms while his forms were often [[Biomorphism|biomorphic]] approaches to bring surrealism in his art.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Wassily Kandinsky – Articles – Biomorphic themes from "Parisian period".|url=https://www.wassilykandinsky.net/article-1054.php|access-date=27 October 2021|website=www.wassilykandinsky.net}}</ref>

== Theoretical writings on art ==
Kandinsky's analyses on forms and colours result not from simple, arbitrary idea-associations but from the painter's inner experience. He spent years creating abstract/sensorially rich paintings, working with form and colour, tirelessly observing his own paintings (along with those of other artists) and noting their effects on his sense of colour.<ref>Michel Henry, ''Seeing the invisible, on Kandinsky'', Continuum, 2009, pp. 5–11.</ref> This subjective experience is something that anyone can do—not scientific/objective observations, but inner/subjective ones, referred to by French philosopher [[Michel Henry]] as "absolute subjectivity" or the "absolute [[phenomenological life]]".<ref>Michel Henry, ''Seeing the invisible, on Kandinsky'', Continuum, 2009, p. 27.</ref>

Published in Munich in 1911, Kandinsky's text ''Über das Geistige in der Kunst'' (''Concerning the spiritual in art'') defines three types of painting: ''impressions'', ''improvisations'' and ''compositions''. While impressions are based on an external reality that serves as a starting point, improvisations and compositions depict images emergent from the unconscious, though ''composition'' is developed from a more formal point of view.<ref name="Pompidou">{{cite web |url=http://mediation.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-kandinsky-mono/ENS-kandinsky-monographie.html |title=Vassily Kandinsky |website=mediation.centrepompidou.fr}}</ref>

[[File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1920 - Points.jpg|thumb|''Points'', 1920, {{cvt|110.3|×|91.8|cm|in}}, [[Ohara Museum of Art]]]]

==Personal life==
After graduating in 1892, Kandinsky married his cousin, Anja Chimiakina, and became a lecturer in [[Jurisprudence]] at the [[University of Moscow]].<ref name=LandauBio />

In the summer of 1902, Kandinsky invited [[Gabriele Münter]] to join him at his summer painting classes just south of Munich in the Alps. She accepted the offer and their relationship became more personal than professional. In 1911, the German expressionist painter was one of several artists joining Kandinsky in his ''Blue Rider'' (''[[Der Blaue Reiter]]'') group, which ended with the onset of World War I.

Kandinsky and Münter became engaged in the summer of 1903 while he was still married to Anja and travelled extensively through Europe, Russia and North Africa until 1908. He separated from Anja in 1911.<ref name=LandauBio>{{cite web |url=https://www.landaufineart.ca/kandinsky |title=WASSILY KANDINSKY (1866–1944) Biography |access-date=3 June 2022 |year=2022 |work=Landau Fine Art |location=Montreal }}</ref>

From 1906 to 1908, Kandinsky travelled across Europe. In 1909, Münter bought a summerhouse in the small Bavarian town of [[Murnau am Staffelsee|Murnau]] and the couple happily entertained colleagues there. The property is still known as Russenhaus and she would later use the basement to hide many works (by Kandinsky and others) from the [[Nazis]]. Upon returning to Munich, Kandinsky founded the Neue Kunstler Vereinigung (New Artists' Association) in 1909.<ref name=LandauBio/>

He returned to Moscow in 1914 when the first World War broke out. The relationship between Kandinsky and Münter worsened due to mutual tensions and disappointments over his lack of commitment to marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoberg |first1=Annegret |title=''Exhibition catalogue for'' Gabriele Münter: The Search for Expression 1906–1917 |date=2005 |publisher=Courtauld Institute Art Gallery, in association with Paul Holberton Publishing |location=London |isbn=1-903470-29-3 |pages=35–36 |chapter=The Life and Work of Gabriel Münter}}</ref> Their relationship formally ended in 1916 in Stockholm.

In 1916, he met [[Nina Kandinsky|Nina Nikolaevna Andreevskaya]] (1899–1980), whom he married on 11 February 1917 when she was 17 or 18 and he was 50 years old. At the end of 1917, they had a son, Wsevolod, or Lodya as he was called in the family. Lodya died in June 1920 and there were no more children.<ref name=LandauBio />{{failed verification|resaon=just says "... marriage to Nina Nikolaevna Andreevskaia in 1917."|date=May 2024}}

[[File:Portrait de Nina Kandinsky, Hugo Erfurth, 1927 (cropped).png|thumb|Nina Kandinsky, by Hugo Erfurth, 1927]]

After the Russian Revolution, he had opportunities in Germany, to which he returned in 1920. There, he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933.

He then moved to France with his wife, where he lived for the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939 and producing some of his most prominent art.

He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 13 December 1944.

== Art market ==
In 2012, [[Christie's]] auctioned Kandinsky's ''Studie für Improvisation 8 (Study for Improvisation 8)'', a 1909 view of a man wielding a broadsword in a rainbow-hued village, for $23&nbsp;million. The painting had been on loan to the [[Kunstmuseum Winterthur]] in Switzerland since 1960 and was sold to a European collector by the Volkart Foundation, the charitable arm of the Swiss commodities trading firm Volkart Brothers. Before this sale, the artist's last record was set in 1990 when [[Sotheby's]] sold his ''Fugue'' (1914) for $20.9&nbsp;million.<ref>Kelly Crow (7 November 2012), [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323894704578105882889840890 Christie's Sells Monet for $43.8 Million] ''[[Wall Street Journal]]''.</ref> On 16 November 2016, [[Christie's]] auctioned Kandinsky's ''Rigide et courbé'' (''Rigid and bent''), a large 1935 abstract painting, for $23.3&nbsp;million, a new record for Kandinsky.<ref name="AN20161117">{{cite news|title=Monet Sells for $81.4 M., a New Record, at $246.3 M. Christie's Imp-Mod Sale|url=http://www.artnews.com/2016/11/17/monet-sells-for-81-4-m-a-new-record-at-246-3-m-christies-imp-mod-sale/|access-date=12 February 2017|work=[[ARTnews]]|date=17 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="TAN20160915">{{cite news|last1=Pobric|first1=Pac|title=Kandinsky painting bought directly from the artist by Solomon Guggenheim returns to auction|url=http://theartnewspaper.com/market/kandinsky-painting-bought-directly-from-the-artist-by-solomon-guggenheim-returns-to-auction/|access-date=12 February 2017|work=[[The Art Newspaper]]|date=15 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212163933/http://theartnewspaper.com/market/kandinsky-painting-bought-directly-from-the-artist-by-solomon-guggenheim-returns-to-auction/|archive-date=12 February 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Solomon R. Guggenheim]] originally purchased the painting directly from the artist in 1936, but it was not exhibited after 1949; it was then sold at auction to a private collector in 1964 by the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]].<ref name="TAN20160915" />

== Nazi-looted art ==
In July 2001, Jen Lissitzky, the son of artist [[El Lissitzky]], filed a restitution claim against the [[Beyeler Foundation]] in Basel, Switzerland for Kandinsky's ''Improvisation No. 10''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=31 August 2001|title=Son of El Lissitzky files for return of another war loot Kandinsky|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2001/09/01/son-of-el-lissitzky-files-for-return-of-another-war-loot-kandinsky|access-date=28 January 2022|website=The Art Newspaper – International art news and events}}</ref> A settlement was reached in 2002.<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 July 2002|title=Kandinsky painting row settled|language=en-GB|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2087940.stm|access-date=28 January 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021002112739/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2087940.stm|archive-date=2 October 2002}}</ref>

In 2013, the [[Hedwig Lewenstein|Lewenstein family]] filed a claim for the restitution of Kandinsky's ''Painting with Houses'' held by the [[Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam|Stedelijk Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=1 November 2018: Dutch Restitution Decision re Kandinsky 'Painting with Houses: 'Interest of the claimant in restitution does not outweigh the interest of the [Museum] in retaining the work'|url=https://www.lootedart.com/U1VEU5151251|access-date=24 March 2021|website=lootedart.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=A Jewish family sold this Kandinsky painting to survive the Nazis. Amsterdam is keeping it anyway.|url=https://www.lootedart.com/news.php?r=TQVUPH742381|access-date=24 March 2021|website=Looted Art}}</ref>  In 2020, a committee established by the Dutch minister of culture found fault with the behaviour of the Restitution Committee, causing a scandal where two of its members, including its chairman, resigned. Later that year, a court in Amsterdam ruled that the Stedelijk Museum could retain the painting from the Jewish Lewenstein collection despite the Nazi theft.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dutch Court Rules Against Jewish Heirs on Claim for Kandinsky Work|url=https://www.lootedart.com/news.php?r=ULMTVY608331 |access-date=24 March 2021|website=lootedart.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title="Recovery is more than just returning an object."|url=https://www.lootedart.com/news.php?r=UQSPOA306881 |access-date=24 March 2021|website=lootedart.com|quote=The city of Amsterdam purchased the Kandinsky works that were stolen by the Germans at auction in October 1940, just six months after the occupation began. De Volkskrant expects to reconsider the issue of returning the painting after Friday's government decision. Before the Nazi robbery, the painting was owned by Hedwig Loewenstein-Feigerman, who inherited it from her husband, the Jewish art collector, Emmanuel Albert Lowenstein, who had owned the painting since 1923.}}</ref> However, in August 2021, the Amsterdam City Council decided to return the painting to the Lewenstein family.<ref>{{Cite news|date=27 August 2021|title=Amsterdam to restore disputed Kandinsky to Jewish family|work=DutchNews.nl|url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/08/amsterdam-to-restore-disputed-kandinsky-to-jewish-family/|access-date=30 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Villa|first=Angelica|date=30 August 2021|title=Amsterdam to Restitute Kandinsky Painting to Heirs After Years-Long Dispute|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/amsterdam-restitutes-wassily-kandsinky-painting-1234602572/|access-date=28 January 2022|website=ARTnews.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2017, Robert Colin Lewenstein, Francesca Manuela Davis and Elsa Hannchen Guidotti filed suit against Bayerische Landesbank (BLB) for the restitution of Kandinsky's  ''[[Das Bunte Leben]].''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Case 1:17-cv-01600 Document 1 Filed 03/03/17 Page 1 of 23|url=https://www.lootedart.com/web_images/pdf2016/Wassily.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Buffenstein|first=Alyssa|date=6 March 2017|title=Heirs Claim Kandinsky Painting Was Looted by Nazis|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lawsuit-asks-for-kandinsky-painting-to-be-returned-to-heirs-881159|access-date=28 January 2022|website=Artnet News|language=en-US}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col}}
* [[Bibliothèque Kandinsky]]
* [[Goethe]]'s ''[[Theory of Colours]]''
* [[Theosophy and visual arts#Kandinsky|Kandinsky and Theosophy]]
* [[Kandinsky Prize]]
* [[List of Russian artists]]
* [[Russian avant-garde]]
* [[Wassily Chair]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Books by Kandinsky ===
* Wassily Kandinsky, M. T. Sadler (Translator), Adrian Glew (Editor). ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art''. (New York: MFA Publications and London: Tate Publishing, 2001). 192 pp.  {{ISBN|0-87846-702-5}}
* Wassily Kandinsky, M. T. Sadler (Translator). ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art''. Dover Publ. (Paperback). 80 pp.&nbsp;{{ISBN|0-486-23411-8}}. or: Lightning Source Inc Publ. (Paperback). {{ISBN|1-4191-1377-1}}
* Wassily Kandinsky. [[Klänge]]. Verlag R. Piper & Co., Munich
* Wassily Kandinsky. ''Point and Line to Plane''. Dover Publications, New York. {{ISBN|0-486-23808-3}}
* Wassily Kandinsky. ''Kandinsky, Complete Writings on Art''. Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|0-306-80570-7}}

=== References in English ===
* Ulrike Becks-Malorny. ''Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944: The Journey to Abstraction'' (Taschen, 2007). {{ISBN|978-3-8228-3564-7}}
* John E. Bowlt and Rose-Carol Washton Long, eds. ''The Life of Vasilii Kandinsky in Russian Art: A Study of "On the Spiritual in Art" by Wassily Kandinsky''. (Newtonville, MA.: Oriental Research Partners, 1984). {{ISBN|0-89250-131-6}}
* Magdalena Dabrowski. ''Kandinsky Compositions''. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2002). {{ISBN|0-87070-405-2}}
* Esther da Costa Meyer, Fred Wasserman, eds. ''Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider'' (New York: The Jewish Museum, and London: Scala Publishers Ltd, 2003). {{ISBN|1-85759-312-X}}
* Hajo Düchting. ''Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944: A Revolution in Painting''. (Taschen, 2000). {{ISBN|3-8228-5982-6}}
* Hajo Düchting. ''Wassily Kandinsky''. (Prestel, 2008).
* Sabine Flach. "Through the Looking Glass", in ''Intellectual Birdhouse'' (London: Koenig Books, 2012). {{ISBN|978-3-86335-118-2}}
* Friedel, Helmut, and Hoberg, Annegret, eds. ''Vasily Kandinsky'' (2016). Prestel. {{ISBN|978-3791382920}}
* Will Grohmann. ''Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work''. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1958).
* [[Michel Henry]]. ''Seeing the Invisible: On Kandinsky'' (Continuum, 2009). {{ISBN|1-84706-447-7}}
* Thomas M. Messer. ''Vasily Kandinsky''. (New York: Harry N Abrams Inc, 1997). (Illustrated). {{ISBN|0-8109-1228-7}}.
* Margarita Tupitsyn. ''Against Kandinsky'' (Munich: Museum Villa Stuck, 2006).
* Annette and Luc Vezin. ''Kandinsky and the Blue Rider'' (Paris: Pierre Terrail, 1992). {{ISBN|2-87939-043-5}}
* Julian Lloyd Webber. "Seeing red, looking blue, feeling green", ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' 6 July 2006.
* Peg Weiss. ''Kandinsky in Munich: The Formative Jugendstil Years'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979). {{ISBN|0-691-03934-8}}
* Vasily Kandinsky: From Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus, 1910-1925. Exhibition Catalogue, edited by Neue Galerie New York (Hatje Cantz, 2013). {{ISBN|978-3-77573-734-0}}

=== References in French ===
* Michel Henry. ''Voir l'invisible. Sur Kandinsky'' (Presses Universitaires de France) {{ISBN|2-13-053887-8}}
* Nina Kandinsky. ''Kandinsky et moi'' (éd. Flammarion) {{ISBN|2-08-064013-5}}
* Jéléna Hahl-Fontaine. ''Kandinsky'' (Marc Vokar éditeur) {{ISBN|2-87012-006-0}}
* François le Targat. ''Kandinsky'' (éd. Albin Michel, les grands maîtres de l'art contemporain) {{ISBN|2-226-02830-7}}
* ''Kandinsky. Rétrospective'' (Foundation Maeght) {{ISBN|2-900923-26-3}} {{ISBN|2-900923-27-1}}
* ''Kandinsky. Œuvres de Vassily Kandinsky (1866–1944)'' (Centre Georges Pompidou) {{ISBN|2-85850-262-5}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|d=y|c=Category:Wassily Kandinsky|q=Wassily Kandinsky|b=no|wikt=no|s=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|n=no}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9dJJ7_3nrk Video remake] of the stage production of "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Kandinsky in 1928 in Dessau, 2015.
* [http://archives2.getty.edu:8082/xtf/view?docId=ead/850910/850910.xml Wassily Kandinsky papers, 1911–1940]. The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California.
* Discussion of ''Yellow – Red – Blue'' by [[Janina Ramirez]] and [[Marc Canham (composer)|Marc Canham]]: [https://www.acast.com/artdetective/yellow-red-bluebywassilykandinsky-withmarccanham Art Detective Podcast, 19 April 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913185204/https://www.acast.com/artdetective/yellow-red-bluebywassilykandinsky-withmarccanham |date=13 September 2018 }}
* [https://www.mutualart.com/Article/Kandinskys-Introspective-Path-to-Abstrac/D8C2B04A9E82D3CB Kandinsky's Introspective Path to Abstract Reality]
* {{Cite web| title = 2021 French stamps featuring Kandinsky's works| accessdate = 21 August 2023| url = https://www.phil-ouest.com/Timbre.php?Nom_timbre=Kandinsky_01_2021}}
*[https://www.scene4.com/archivesqv6/2020/mar-2020/0320/lissatylerrenaud-k0320.html Kandinsky in Russia: The Language of Music]
*[https://www.march.es/en/palma/exhibitions/kandinsky-watercolours-stadtische-galerie-im-lenbachhaus-munich Kandinsky. Watercolours. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich] 2004-05 exhibit at the [[Museo de Arte Abstracto Español]], Cuenca and 2005 Museu [[Fundación Juan March]], Palma, featuring works from the [[Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus]] in Munich
*[https://www.phillipscollection.org/event/2011-06-10-kandinsky-and-harmony-silence Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence Painting with White Border] 2011 exhibition at The Phillips Collection
*[https://www.neuegalerie.org/exhibitions/kandinsky-blaue-reiter-bauhaus Vasily Kandinsky: From Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus, 1910-1925] 2013-2014 exhibition at the Neue Galerie, New York City
*[https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/en/activite/28824 Kandinsky: La musique des couleurs] 2025-26 exhibition at the [[Philharmonie de Paris]]'s [[Musée de la Musique]]

;Writing by Kandinsky
* {{Gutenberg author | id=1763}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky}}
* {{Librivox author |id=10136}}
* {{cite web
| url        = https://archive.org/details/onspiritualinart00kand
| title      = Concerning the Spiritual in Art
|website= Guggenheim Internet Archives
| access-date = 25 October 2013
}}
{{external media | width = 200px | float = right |
headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa3FyvaKYVw Kandinsky, ''Improvisation 28 (second version)'', 1912], Smarthistory}}

;Paintings by Kandinsky
* {{MoMA artist|2981}}
* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kandinsky_wassily.html Artcyclopedia.com], Wassily Kandinsky at ArtCyclopedia
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090514092823/http://www.glyphs.com/art/kandinsky/  Glyphs.com], Kandinsky's compositions with commentary
* [http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/ Wassilykandinsky.net] – 500 paintings, 60+ photos, biography, quotes, articles

{{Wassily Kandinsky|state=expanded}}
{{Der Blaue Reiter}}
{{Modernism}}

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kandinsky, Wassily}}
[[Category:Wassily Kandinsky| ]]
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:Russian abstract painters]]
[[Category:Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni]]
[[Category:Russian art educators]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Bauhaus]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the German Empire]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of France]]
[[Category:Russian modern painters]]
[[Category:Moscow State University alumni]]
[[Category:Russian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Artists from Moscow]]
[[Category:Russian Expressionist painters]]
[[Category:Painters from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Gantimurov family]]
[[Category:Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia]]
[[Category:Printmakers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Watercolorists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Burials at Neuilly-sur-Seine community cemetery]]
[[Category:Artists from Odesa]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian male artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian painters]]
[[Category:French Expressionist painters]]
[[Category:20th-century French painters]]
[[Category:20th-century French male artists]]
[[Category:Artists in the Degenerate Art exhibition]]