Wassily
Wassilyevich
KANDINSKY
Born 1866, Moscow – died 1944,
Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Painter, graphic artist, sculptor and theatre designer.
Paintings Graphic work Biography
Odessa. Port. 1898.
Oil on canvas, 65x45 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow.
Kochel. Waterfall. Circa
1900.
Oil on canvas, 32.4x23.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
The Isar near Grosshessolohe. 1901.
Oil on canvas, 32.5x23.6 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
An Old Town. 1902.
Oil on canvas, 52x78.5 cm. Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Gabriele Münter
Painting in Kallmünz.
1903.
Oil on cardboard, 58.5x458.5 cm. Münich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
A Russian Scene. 1904.
Tempera on cardboard, 23x55
cm. Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Portrait of Gabriele Münter.
1905.
Oil on canvas, 45x45 cm. Münich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Santa Marguerite. 1906.
Oil on canvas.
Volga Song. 1906.
Tempera on cardboard, 49x66
cm. Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
A Riding Couple. 1906-1907.
Oil on canvas, 55x50.3 cm. Münich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Colorful Life. 1907.
Tempera on canvas, 130x162.5
cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
A Blue Rider.
Oil on cardboard, 55x65 cm.
The private collection,
Zurich, Switzerland.
Moscow Environs. Earlier than 1908.
Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Lancer in Landscape. 1908.
Oil on board on panel, 63x81 cm. The Merzbacher
collection, Switzerland.
Autumn Landscape with Boats. 1908.
Oil on board, 71x96.5 cm. The Merzbacher
collection, Switzerland.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Autumn Study near Oberau. 1908.
Oil on cardboard, 32.8x44.5
cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Houses in Munich. 1908.
Oil on cardboard, 33x41 cm. Wuppertal, Von der Heydt
Museum, Germany.
Houses in Murnau on Obermarkt. 1908.
Oil on cardboard, 64.5x50.2 cm. Collection
Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain.
Murnau. Landscape with a Tower. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 75.5x99.5 cm.
Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Murnau. A Village Street. 1908.
Oil on cardboard, later mounted on wood. 48x69.5 cm. The Merzbacher
collection, Switzerland.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Riegsee. The Village Church. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 33x45 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Munich. Schwabing with St.Ursula's Church.
1908.
Oil on canvas, 68.8x49 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
A Mountain. 1908.
Oil on canvas, 109x109 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Encounter. 1908-1909.
Woodblock, carved, painted in
oils. 36.5x 42.5x3.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
The Blue Mountain. 1908-1909.
Oil on canvas, 106x96.6 cm. New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, USA.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Figures and a Child in a Landscape.
1908-1909.
Watercolor over charcoal and
pencil on paper, 12x15.5 cm. Münich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Landscape near Murnau with a Locomotive. 1909.
Oil on canvas, 50.4x65 cm. New York, The
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, USA.
Murnau. View with a Railway and a Castle.
1909.
Oil on canvas, 36x49 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Murnau. Garden. 1909.
Oil on board, 67x51 cm. The Merzbacher
collection, Switzerland.
Arabs. (Cemetery) 1909.
Oil on cardboard, 71.5x98 cm. Hamburger Kunsthalle,
Hamburg, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Oriental. 1909.
Oil on canvas, 69.5x96.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Bedroom in Aintmillerstraβe.
1909.
Oil on canvas, 48.5x69.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Interior (My Dining Room) . 1909.
Oil on canvas, 50x65 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Crinolines. 1909.
Oil on canvas, 96.3x128.5 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow.
Grüngasse
in Murnau. 1909.
Oil on cardboard, 33x44.6 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Winter. 1909.
Oil on cardboard, 75.5x97.5 cm. The
Hermitage, St.Petersburg.
Improvisation 6 (African). 1910.
Oil on canvas, 107x95.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Picture with an Archer. 1909.
Oil on canvas, 50.4x65 cm. New York,
Museum of Modern Art, USA.
Murnau. Garden. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 66x82 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Murnau with a Church. 1910.
Oil on cardboard, 64.7x52 cm.
Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Composition ll. 1909-1910.
Oil on canvas, 97.5x131.2 cm. New York, The Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, USA.
Untitled (First Abstract Watercolor).
1910.
Pencil, watercolor and ink on
paper, 49.6x64.8 cm. Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Improvisation 7. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 131x97 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow.
Improvisation 9. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 110x110 cm. Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie,
Germany.
Improvisation 10. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 120x140 cm. Basle, Collection Ernst
Beyeler, Switzerland.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Improvisation 11. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 97.5x106.5 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Improvisation 12 (Rider). 1910.
Oil on canvas, 97.5x106.5 cm.
Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Improvisation 14. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 73x125 cm.
Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Boat Trip. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 98x105 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow.
Improvisation 19. 1910.
Oil on canvas, 120x141.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Composition lV. 1911.
Oil on canvas, 159.5x250.5 cm. Düsseldorf,
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Improvisation 21a. 1911.
Oil on canvas, 96x105 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Composition V. 1911.
Oil on canvas, 190x275 cm. The private
collection, Switzerland.
Impression lll (Concert). 1911.
Oil on canvas, 77.5x100 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
All Saints l. 1911.
Oil on canvas, 50x64.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Nude. 1911.
Watercolor on paper, 33.1x33
cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
A Riding Amazon. 1911.
Glass painting, 16x13 cm. Baku, State Art
Museum of Azerbaijan.
Glass Painting with the Sun (Small
Pleasures). 1911.
Glass painting, 30.6x40.3 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
All Saints l. 1911.
Glass painting, 34.5x40.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Hound of Helland Bird of Paradise. 1911.
Glass painting, 10.8x9.2 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Rider of the Apocalypse. 1911.
Tempera on glass, 29.5x20 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
All Saints ll. 1911.
Oil on canvas, 86x99 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Angel of the Last Judgment.
Oil on cardboard, 64x50 cm.
The Merzbacher collection,
Switzerland.
Angel of the Last Judgment. 1911.
Glass painting, 26x17 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Lady in Moscow. 1912.
Oil on canvas, 48.5x69.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Black Spot. 1912.
Oil on canvas, 100x130 cm. The Russian Museum,
St.Petersburg.
Picture with a Black Arch. 1912.
Oil on canvas, 188x196 cm.
Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Improvisation 26 (Rowing). 1912.
Oil on canvas, 97x107.5 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Small Pleasures. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 109.8x119.7 cm. New York, The Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, USA.
Landscape with Rain. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 70.2x78.1 cm. New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, USA.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
With a White Border. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 140.3x200.3 cm. New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, USA.
Picture with White Form. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 120x136.8 cm. New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, USA.
Improvisation Deluge. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 95x150 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Improvisation 30 (Cannons). 1913.
Oil on canvas, 109.2x109.9 cm. The Art Institute of
Chicago, USA.
Black Lines l. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 129.4x131.1 cm.
Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Composition Vll. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 200x300 cm. The Tretyakov
Gallery, Moscow.
Bright Picture. 1913.
Oil on canvas, 77.8x100.2 cm. New York, The Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, USA.
Painting with Three Spots. 1914.
Oil on canvas, 120x111 cm. Collection
Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain.
Wall Panel (for Edwin R. Campbell's
villa). 1914.
Oil on canvas, 162.5x80 cm. New York,
Museum of Modern Art, USA.
Wall Panel (for Edwin R. Campbell's
villa). 1914.
Oil on canvas, 163x123.6 cm. New York,
Museum of Modern Art, USA.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Wall Panel (for Edwin R. Campbell's
villa). 1914.
Oil on canvas, 162.5x92.1 cm. New York,
Museum of Modern Art, USA.
Wall Panel (for Edwin R. Campbell's villa). 1914.
Oil on canvas, 162.3x122.8 cm. New York,
Museum of Modern Art, USA.
Improvisation Gorge. 1914.
Oil on canvas, 110x110 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Fugue. 1914.
Oil on canvas, 129.5x129.5 cm. Basle, Collection
Ernst Beyeler, Switzerland.
Rider. St. George. 1915-1916.
Oil on canvas, 61.4x91 cm. The Tretyakov
Gallery, Moscow.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
To the Unknown Voice. 1916.
Watercolor and Indian ink on
paper, 23.7x15.8 cm. Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Moscow l. 1916.
Oil on canvas, 51.5x49.5 cm. The Tretyakov
Gallery, Moscow.
Moscow. Smolensky Boulevard. 1916. Study.
Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Moscow. Zubovskaya Square. 1916. Study.
Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Composition (Grey Oval). 1917.
Glass painting, 105x133.5 cm.
Ekaterinburg Art Gallery.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Overcast. 1917.
Oil on canvas, 105x134 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow.
White Oval. 1919.
Oil on canvas, 80x93 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow.
In Grey. 1919.
Oil on canvas, 129x176 cm.
Paris, Musée
National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Red Oval. 1920.
Oil on canvas, 71.5x71.2 cm. New York, The Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, USA.
Red Spot. 1921.
Oil on canvas, 131x181 cm. Munich,
Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Archer. 1909.
Color woodcut, 31.4x24.2 cm.
Munich, Städtische
Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Cover design for the almanac "Blaue
Reiter". 1911.
Watercolor, pencil, Indian
ink, brush, pencil on paper. 27.9x21.9 cm. Munich, Städtische Galerie in
Lenbach, Germany.
Lyrical. 1911.
Color woodcut, 4 blocks.
14.9x21.8 cm. Munich, Städtische Galerie in Lenbach, Germany.
Double spread from Kandinsky's book
"Sounds". 1913.
Munich, Städtische Galerie in
Lenbach, Germany.
Double spread from Kandinsky's book
"Sounds". 1913.
Munich, Städtische Galerie in
Lenbach, Germany.
Double spread from Kandinsky's book
"Sounds". 1913.
Munich, Städtische Galerie in
Lenbach, Germany.
Paintings Graphic work Biography Top of Page
Wassily Kandinsky’s name is one of the most famous in the world. Kandinsky is considered the founder of abstract art. It is difficult to overrate the impact this artist had, who revolutionized the art of XXth century with his ideas and enriched it with a new pictorial language. His influence on contemporary art was great, and is still perceptible. He made his path toward the first abstract compositions in 1911 by gradually refusing to copy the visible world. Many other artists in the early ears of XXth century had experimented with colors, forms and expressive methods, but Kandinsky has adopted the most logical, and always accompanied his artistic activities by theoretical reflections and insights. Music was one of the more important components of his theory of harmony for painting, like an art free from outside visible forms.
Wassily Kandinsky was born in 1866 in a middle class family in Moscow. His father was a tea merchant from Siberia. In 1871 the family moved to Odessa. Kandinski’s parents had divorced.
Wassily studied at the humanities grammar school in Odessa (1871-1885). He took lessons in drawing and music. He had visited his father in Moscow, annually.
He has studied law and economics at the Moscow University (from 1886). In 1889, the artist was sponsored by the Imperial Society for Natural Sciences, Ethnography and Anthropology to undertake a research expedition to the Vologda province. Kandinski wrote essays about peasant law and on pagan relics in tribal religion. The powerful folk art of northern Russia made a profound impression on him. In St.Petersburg he had visited the Hermitage and seen the paintings by Rembrandt for the first time. He had traveled to Paris.
After concluding his studies and passing law exams (1892) Kandinsky has married his cousin, Anna Chimikian. He has become an assistant at Moscow University (1893), and written his doctoral thesis on “The Legality of Laborers’ Wages”. He was appointed an attaché at the Moscow University faculty of law.
In 1895 he has become the artistic director of a printing workshop in Moscow. And one year later e has decided to pursue a career as an artist and moved to Munich.
Kandinski has studied at the private art school of Anton Ažbè (1897-1899). He has met the painters Alexei von Jawlensky and Marianne von Verefkin. He has visited exhibitions in Munich: Secession and Jugendstil at their peak. He has studied at the Academy under Franz von Stuck. Among his fellow students was Paul Klee.
From 1900 Kandinsky has presented his work at exhibitions by the Moscow Artist’s Association in Moscow.
He has founded several art societies in Munich: the artist’s exhibition “The Phalanx” (1901), “the Neue Kunslerfereinigung” together with Alexei von Jawlensky (1909), “the Blaue Reiter” group together with Franz Marc (1911). The Phalanx School of Painting had opened under Kandinsky’s directorship. In the Phalanx School of Painting the artist had met Gabriele Münter (1902), who was a student there, and she was with him till 1916.
Kandinsky has written his first essay on art “Kritika kritikov” (A Critique of Critics), appeared in the Moscow newspaper Novosti Dnia (The Day News).
Kandinsky had separated from his wife Anya and traveled with Münter to many countries in Western Europe and Africa (1903-1907), they had visited Russia too. In 1904 fifteen of his color drawings and woodcuts were included in the Moscow Artist’s Association exhibition. He had published “Poems without Words” in Moscow.
Over the next 5 years he had produced numerous oil studies and tempera paintings. He had also worked on the theory of color.
Of the following years his work was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne in Paris, with the Moscow Artist’s Assotiation in Moscow, the Secession in Berlin and with the artists of “Die Brücke” (Bridge) in Dresden. They had continued to travel, lived one year in Sévres near Paris, stayed in Murnau with Jawlensky and Verefkin. Gabriele had bought a house in Murnau and from 1909 until World War I Kandinsky had gone there regularly and painted Murnau landscapes. During this time Kandinsky was elected president of the Neue Künstlereinigung München. He had presented his first series of painting on glass, inspired by Bavarian folk art, at the “Moderne Galerie Thannhauser” in Munich. He has also began the creation of his first “Improvisations”.
In 1910 Kandinsky has met Franz Marc and August Macke, artists of the Blaue Reiter group. He has exhibited in Düsseldorf, spent two month in Russia (Moscow, St.Petersburg and Odessa), exhibited 52 works in the International Salon in Odessa and taken part in the Jack of Diamond exhibition organized by Larionov (1910). The artist has painted his first three “Compositions”, and written a theoretical work ”On the Spiritual in Art”.
In 1911 Kandinsky has obtained a divorce from his wife Anya.
He has created his first Abstract compositions, worked a lot on the theory of art and written articles for the “Blaue Reiter Almanac”.
His first one-man show was in 1912 at Sturm gallery in Berlin. He has taken part in numerous other exhibitions in Germany, Switzerland and Russia. He has made a trip to Odessa and Moscow for two months, during which he has participated in the Jack of Diamond exhibition in Moscow as well as in “Contemporary Painting” in Ekaterinodar and others.
Kandinski has visited and exhibited his work in New York (1913), participated in the First German Autumn Salon in the Sturm gallery in Berlin. He has published “Reminiscences” in an album by the Sturm Verlag, and Piper had published the prose-poems “Sounds”. In 1914 Kandinsky has finished the last two of his “Compositions”, VI and VII, before the war. He has held a one-man show in Munich and Cologne. He has painted four large wall panels for the villa of Edwin A.Campbell in New York.
On 1 August 1914 the War started, and on 3 August Kandinsky with Münter have fled to Switzerland. He worked on Point and Line against Plane and wrote “Violet Curtain”, a composition for the theatre. In November he traveled alone to Russia and settled in Moscow.
In the spring of 1916 Kandinsky has exhibited in Stockholm and met there with Gabriele Münter for the last time. On February 1917 he has married Nina Andreevsky, a general’s daughter. A son was born, Vsevolod, who died in infancy in 1920.
In 1918 Kandinsky has worked in Moscow at a political-cultural post of the Fine Art Department of the People’s Commissariat of Enlightenment. He has received a professorship at the High State Artistic and technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS). He has published a new edition of his “Reminiscences” in Russian
He was appointed director of the Museum for Pictorial Culture in Moscow. Kandinski has taken over as chairman of the pan-Russian commission for museum acquisitions; between 1919 and 1921 he has organized the equipment and opening of 22 new museums in the Russian provinces.
Together with Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky, the artist has taken part in the First State Exhibition in Moscow.
Kandinsky was one of the founders in1920 of the Institute of Artistic Culture (INKhUK), and was appointed professor of aesthetics at Moscow University. He has presented 54 works in the XIX Exhibition of the Pan-Russian Central Exhibition Committee in Moscow. But because of the increasing conflict with Rodchenko, he has left the Workshops for Monumental Painting. In 1921 he has left the INKhUK too. He was appointed to build and promote the Department of Psychology at the newly-founded Academy of Aesthetics, of which he was made deputy-director.
In December 1921 Kandinsky and his wife have for ever left Russia and emigrated to Germany. He has taught at the Bauhaus (1922-1933).
The artist's biography does not end at this point. He was in the heyday of fame, lived in Germany, exhibited at the best galleries of Europe and America, seeking new colors, manners and formats for his abstract paintings. In 1933 Kandinsky has left for France and lived at Neuilli-sur-Seine, near Paris.
In 1941 he was invited to emigrate to America, but declined.
His last years the artist has passed in France, worked almost to the end and died of cerebro-vascular disease on 13 December 1944 in Neuilli-sur-Seine at the age of 78.