Frohlicher Augsteig

Wassily Kandinsky prints bring one of the founders of abstract art into your home. Kandinsky started painting at thirty, after a career in law, and went on to treat color the way a composer treats sound. Our collection follows his whole path: the bright Bavarian village scenes of Murnau, the swirling Improvisations of the Blue Rider years, and the crisp circles and lines of his Bauhaus period.

About Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow on 16 December 1866. He studied law and economics at the University of Moscow and lectured in jurisprudence there before turning to art. In 1896 he saw one of Claude Monet's Haystacks paintings at an exhibition and was struck that the color carried the picture even before he could tell what it showed.

He moved to Munich, studying at Anton Ažbe's painting school and then at the Munich Academy under Franz von Stuck. In 1901 he co-founded the artists' group Phalanx. From 1908 he worked in the Bavarian market town of Murnau with Gabriele Münter, his student and later his partner. In 1911 Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), the circle he founded with Franz Marc, held its first exhibition in Munich, and the same year his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art was published.

When the First World War began in 1914, Kandinsky left Germany and returned to Moscow, where he lived until the end of 1921. From 1922 he taught at the Bauhaus, first in Weimar and later in Dessau and Berlin, and in 1923 he formed the Blue Four group with Paul Klee and others. When the school closed in 1933 he settled in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris. He became a French citizen in 1939 and died in Neuilly on 13 December 1944.

Style and Subjects

Kandinsky's early work draws on Impressionism and Fauvism: landscapes, riders and village streets painted in strong, unmixed color. In Murnau the shapes grow flatter and the colors louder, until houses and hills become patches of orange, blue and green. From there he moved toward pure abstraction, using color for its own sake rather than to describe objects.

He linked painting closely to music, and his titles show it. He named many works "Improvisation" or "Composition", words borrowed from music. In his Bauhaus years the forms turn geometric: circles, triangles, grids and sharp lines set on calm grounds. Later paintings from Paris add soft, biomorphic shapes, and he sometimes mixed sand into the paint for texture.

Famous Works

• The Blue Rider (1903), private collection, Zurich. An early rider painting from his Munich years, made long before the group that shares its name.
• Green Lane in Murnau (1909), Lenbachhaus, Munich. A village street turned into blocks of glowing color, typical of his Murnau summers.
• Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II) (1912), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Loose shapes and color fields from the moment he was leaving recognizable subjects behind.
• Composition VII (1913), Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. A key work of his early abstraction; the store carries several of his drafts for it.
• On White II (1923), Centre Pompidou, Paris. A Bauhaus-era painting from his move toward geometric forms.
• Yellow–Red–Blue (1925), Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris. A Bauhaus-era picture built from the three colors in its title.
• Several Circles (1926), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Overlapping circles of color, from the years he explored the circle as a motif.
• Composition X (1939), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. One of the last of his large Compositions, painted in Paris.

Decorating with Kandinsky Prints

The geometric Bauhaus pieces, such as Several Circles and the many circle, line and point studies, suit modern living rooms, home offices and minimalist interiors. Plates from his book Klänge and the small Bauhaus-era prints work well grouped together in a gallery wall.

For warmer, more relaxed spaces, try the Murnau and Kochel landscapes. Their oranges, greens and blues bring color to kitchens, dining rooms and hallways without feeling severe. The lively Improvisations and the Composition VII drafts are best as a single statement piece above a sofa or in a creative studio, where their energy has room to breathe.

FAQ

What art movement was Wassily Kandinsky part of?

Kandinsky is linked with Expressionism and is one of the pioneers of abstract art. He co-founded Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in Munich with Franz Marc and later taught at the Bauhaus.

What is Kandinsky's most famous painting?

Composition VII (1913), Several Circles (1926) and Yellow–Red–Blue (1925) are among his best-known paintings.

Where can I see Kandinsky's original paintings?

Major works hang at the Lenbachhaus in Munich, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

How can I recognize a Kandinsky painting?

Look for strong, pure color used for its own sake, and for titles like "Improvisation" or "Composition" that borrow from music. His later work uses circles, triangles and crisp lines floating on a plain ground.

Why did Kandinsky compare painting to music?

Kandinsky said he heard tones when he painted and saw colors as working like musical notes. He named many works after musical forms, and he wrote about these ideas in his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art.

Related Artists

• Gabriele Münter — his student, then partner, who painted beside him in Murnau
• Franz Marc — co-founder of Der Blaue Reiter with Kandinsky
• August Macke — fellow member of Der Blaue Reiter
• Paul Klee — fellow member of the Blue Four, formed in 1923 during the Bauhaus years
• Claude Monet — Kandinsky's encounter with a Monet Haystacks painting in 1896 helped steer him toward art