Study Guide
Vasily Kandinsky
Guggenheim
Why They Matter
Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944) is widely credited with producing some of the earliest purely abstract paintings, around 1910–13. But his importance goes beyond chronological priority. He built a theoretical framework — articulated in "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" (1911) and "Point and Line to Plane" (1926) — that gave abstraction intellectual legitimacy at a time when it was dismissed as decoration.
Kandinsky proposed systematic correspondences between visual elements (color, line, shape) and psychological or spiritual effects, drawing parallels with musical composition. His Munich-period "Compositions" and "Improvisations" are explosive, multi-colored canvases that feel genuinely unmoored from representation. His later Bauhaus and Paris periods shifted toward geometric precision — circles, grids, biomorphic forms — yet maintained the conviction that visual art could operate like music: non-representationally, directly on the senses. This idea underwrites nearly all subsequent abstract art.
Representative Works
Composition VII (1913)
Perhaps the most complex of Kandinsky's Munich-period abstractions. A swirling vortex of color and line resists any single focal point, forcing the eye to move continuously across the surface.
Several Circles (1926)
A Bauhaus-era work where overlapping circles of varying size and transparency float on a deep dark ground. Geometric precision replaces the earlier expressionist turbulence.
Composition X (1939)
A late Paris-period painting combining biomorphic shapes with geometric elements against a black ground. The vocabulary has shifted but the ambition — painting as visual music — remains.
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How to Read with the Mend Index
Apply these B/P/M/S interpretation tips when evaluating works attributed to Vasily Kandinsky:
Munich-period works show thick, expressive application; Bauhaus works are smoother, more controlled. Physical handling should match the period.
The Kandinsky catalogue raisonné by Roethel and Benjamin is the standard reference. Works not included require careful vetting.
Oil on canvas (Munich), oil and sometimes mixed media on board (Bauhaus), oil on canvas (Paris). Watercolors and gouaches on paper form a large parallel body.
Three distinct phases (Munich expressionist, Bauhaus geometric, Paris biomorphic) are visually quite different. Misattributing period is a common error.
Official collection — images not hosted here due to copyright
Guggenheim: Vasily Kandinsky