Wassily
Kandinsky
(Vas-ah-lee)
(Can-din-skee)
(1866 – 1944)
Spring Brook PTA
Art Awareness
Farbstudie (color study) Quadrate (squares with concentric rings)
Kandinsky was born In Moscow, Russia in 1866
4000 miles
You
Continent: North America
Country: USA
City: Naperville
Language: English
Kandinsky
Continent: Eur-Asia (Europe & Asia)
Country: Russia
City: Moscow (capital)
Language: Russian
Kandinsky – As a Boy
•
Born in 1866 (142 years ago)
•
His parents read him Russian and
German fairy tales.
•
He played piano and cello.
•
He liked to draw and paint. He
could copy any painting from
memory that he saw in a museum.
•
Fascinated with bright colors
•
Influenced by the houses and
churches of Russia, whose
glistening colors gave him the
sensation that he was not walking
into a building, but into a painting.
St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow
Insert picture of
Moscow’s influences
Kandinsky – As a Young Man
• In 1886 he studied law and
economics at the Moscow
University.
• After passing his exams he
started a teaching career at
the Moscow Faculty of
Law.
• He had many interests and
apparently a great gift to
teach himself different
skills.
Kandinsky – Becomes An Artist
• In 1895 he saw Monet’s Haystack paintings. “They were confusing and difficult to
recognize”. They were not realistic.
• Influence = To change the way one feels about something
• In 1896, at 30, he started a new career as an artist.
Early Influences: Monet’s Haystacks
He painted 20 Haystacks, all were at different times of the day.
Early Influences: Monet’s Haystacks
The entire day of light playing upon the same object.
What Is Impressionism?
• Name comes from Claude
Monet's Impression:
Sunrise
• Impressionist = A group
of French artists who
painted:
• outdoor scenes
• short brushstrokes
• bright colors that
shimmer
• Played with light in
different weather & time
of day
Russian Influences
A Russian Scene. 1904.
Tempera on cardboard, 23x55 cm. Paris, Musée National Art
Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.
Murnau in 1900 - Kandinsky Lived
View with a Railway and a Castle - 1909
Murnau with a
Church
1910
Moscow Environs.
Earlier than 1908
Kandinsky’s First Abstract Painting
• Founder of
Abstract Art at
44.
• More important to
FEEL the painting
than have it look
REAL.
• He used colors to
capture feelings
• He used patterns,
like geometric
shapes to reflect
the rhythm of his
work.
Kandinsky – Cossacks, 1911
• Partly Abstract, still
has real elements:
• Horse
• Building
• Birds Flying
• Soldiers in Red
Hats (Cossacks)
holding sabers.
• Tense, unhappy,
doom of war
When He Saw Color, He Heard Music
•
Kandinsky had a
medical condition:
when he heard
MUSIC he saw
COLOR.
•
So, when he
painted, he heard
music
•
•
•
•
His pictures were:
free-flowing
geometric
pictographic
“ I applied streaks and blobs of colors onto the canvas with a
knife and I made them sing with all the intensity I could…”
Kandinsky, Father of Abstract Art
Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913
Composition
= Musical
Term
Picture
Danced:
• rounded
waves
• zig-zags
• swinging
curves
• Crescents
Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913
1st Look:
• Pink/White Vortex
• When do you typically
hear the term Vortex?
Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913
1st Look:
• Pink/White Vortex
• When do you typically
hear the term Vortex?
2nd Look:
• Torrential Rain &
Waves
Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913
1st Look:
• Pink/White Vortex
• When do you typically
hear the term Vortex?
2nd Look:
• Torrential Rain &
Waves
3. Lower Center
• Crashing, falling colors
• Ghostly
Kandinsky
(Sea Battle), 1913
• Very bright and colorful
• Count the colors you
see in this picture.
Kandinsky
(Sea Battle), 1913
• Very bright and colorful
• Count the colors you
see in this picture.
Kandinsky
(Sea Battle), 1913
How many different shapes?
• Oval
• Square
• Circle
• Triangle
How many different shapes?
• Oval
• Square
• Circle
• Triangle
Kandinsky –
Sea Battle
Find the Lines:
• Curvy line
• Skinny line
• Straight line
• Wide line
• What do you think the
picture is about ?
Kandinsky – Sea Battle
Can you find the can you find the 2 boats at battle ?
Kandinsky –
Sea Battle
city falling in
the distance
cannons
waves
Compare Sea Battles
Benjamin West, Battle of La Hogue, c. 1778, National Gallery of Art
Compare how each artist
painted
• Waves
• clouds of smoke
• Boats
• a "battle"
looks like a picture taken
with a camera
Lifelike: Realism
Idea: Abstract
Which do you prefer?
Why?
Kandinsky = Father of Abstract Painting
ABSTRACT
• not a “real” picture of a sea
battle
• Want you to feel the “mood”
of the battle through color,
brush strokes, painted lines,
and shapes.
• What colors create energy &
excitement?
Colors Make You Feel…
What is the Mood of Blues & Greens ?
• Happy
• fear
• anger
• excitement
• Sadness
Are there certain colors that make you
feel happy? What are they?
• What if Picasso used Pink &
Oranges?
Pablo Picasso, The Tragedy, 1903,
Kandinsky – Farbstudie,
•
•
•
•
Kandinsky's
abstracts became
more geometric
Boxes and Circles –
very simple
What type of rhythm
or music do you
hear with this
painting?
All the beats are
different:
•
What color
pops in the
circle?
•
Circle
thickness
varies
Wassilly
Kandinsky
(can-din-skee)
(1866 – 1944)
Spring Brook PTA
Art Awareness
Farbstudie Quadrate (squares with concentric rings)