Wassily Kandinsky
1866-1944
I applied streaks and blobs of colours onto the canvas with a
palette knife and made them sing with all the intensity I could
Colour is the keyboard , the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is
the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays,
touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.
Wassily Kandinsky
• Born in Moscow,
Russia in 1866.
• Was a lecturer in
Law at
University,(1895) in
Russia but gave up
his job to study
painting in Munich.
• He was a member of
the avante-garde
painting group
called the Blue
Rider. Show his
abstract style of
paintings with the
group.
• Kandinsky was very
spiritual about his
art making.
• He was commented
as saying, That his
belief in art is based
on the harmony of
colour and form.
• He believed that
every colour had an
inner voice and a
meaning.
• He carefully plans
each painting to
express, through the
colours and abstract
forms, exactly the
feelings and spiritual
ideas he wishes to
communicate.
"It was from the catalog I learned this
was a haystack. I was upset I had not
recognized it. I also thought the painter
had no right to paint in such an
imprecise fashion. Dimly I was aware too
that the object did not appear in the
picture..."
Claude MONET1840–1926
Haystacks at Giverny, the evening sun 1888
(Morning Snow Effect)
The End of the Summer, at
Giverny, 1891
Wassily Kandinsky. Volga Song. 1906. Tempera on
cardboard. 49 x 66 cm. Musée National d'Art
Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
Russian Woman
in a Landscape
(1906)
Old Town II
Gabriele
Munter
Gabriele
Munter
Painting in
Kallmunz
Cemetery and
Vicarage in
Kochel
Picture XVI; The Great Gate of Kiev
Improvisation 26 (Oars) Oil on canvas, 1912
42.1" x 38.2
Study for
Painting with
White Lines
(Bild mit
weissen
Linien), 1913.
Watercolor,
india ink, and
pencil on paper,
15 11/16 x 14
1/8 inches
Improvisation 31 (Sea
Battle)
1913; Oil on canvas,
145 x 119.7cm (57 x 47
in);
Small Pleasures
1913
Composition VII
To The Unknown Voice
Wassily Kandinsky,
White Line, No. 232, oil
on canvas, 1920.
Composition VIII
1923
On White II
1923
Wassily Kandinsky, Black and Violet, oil on
canvas, 1923.
Contrasting Sounds
1924
Yellow, Red, Blue
1925
Wassily
Kandinsky,
Several
Circles, oil
on canvas,
1926.
Wassily
Kandinsky,
Softened
Constructio
n, oil on
canvas,
1927.
Red Oval
On Points
Dominant Curve
Decisive Pink
Capricious
Around the Circle
Wassily Kandinsky, Composition X, oil on canvas, 1939.
Composition: Storm
Guided student questions
What colours
do you see?
How does this
painting make you
feel?
What
colours do
you see the
most of?
Is there any place
in this painting
that seems restful
to you? How?
What types
of lines do
you see?
Would you like
to be standing
in the middle of
this painting?
Does anything
in this painting
remind you of a
storm?
What do you think
it would feel like?
Why?