Vasily Kandinsky

Detail of Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons) Print with Hanger

About the artist

1866–1944 · Russian · Abstract art

Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944) was a Russian-born painter and theorist who studied law in Moscow before moving to Munich in 1896 to train as an artist. There he co-founded the Blaue Reiter group in 1911, and by 1913 he was painting pictures with no recognisable subject; his book On the Spiritual in Art (1911) argued that colour and form could act on the viewer as directly as music. He later taught at the Bauhaus and spent his last years in France.

These five paintings come from 1909 to 1913, the Murnau and Munich years in which Kandinsky's landscapes loosened into colour and line until the subject could hardly be read. Hanger, acrylic and metal prints, cushions and blankets keep the full composition as the museum photographed it, set on white.

Curator’s note
Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons) by Vasily Kandinsky as a print with a wooden hanger
Landscape with Two Poplars by Vasily Kandinsky as a print with a wooden hanger
Houses at Murnau by Vasily Kandinsky as a print with a wooden hanger
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Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons) by Vasily Kandinsky as a throw blanketBlankets

By Vasily Kandinsky

Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons) Throw Blanket

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Houses at Murnau by Vasily Kandinsky as a throw blanketBlankets

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Houses at Murnau Throw Blanket

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Painting with Troika by Vasily Kandinsky as a throw blanketBlankets

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Painting with Troika Throw Blanket

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Painting with Green Center by Vasily Kandinsky as a throw blanketBlankets

By Vasily Kandinsky

Painting with Green Center Throw Blanket

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About the works

  1. Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons)

    1913. Oil on canvas.

    Source: Vasily Kandinsky. Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons), 1913. The Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain: The Art Institute of Chicago Open Access (CC0). Object 8991.

    Museum record

  2. Landscape with Two Poplars

    1912. Oil on canvas.

    Source: Vasily Kandinsky. Landscape with Two Poplars, 1912. The Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain: The Art Institute of Chicago Open Access (CC0). Object 8980.

    Museum record

  3. Houses at Murnau

    1909. Oil on cardboard.

    Source: Vasily Kandinsky. Houses at Murnau, 1909. The Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain: The Art Institute of Chicago Open Access (CC0). Object 129849.

    Museum record

  4. Painting with Troika

    January 18, 1911. Oil on cardboard; in artist's painted frame.

    Source: Vasily Kandinsky. Painting with Troika, January 18, 1911. The Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain: The Art Institute of Chicago Open Access (CC0). Object 8983.

    Museum record

  5. Painting with Green Center

    1913. Oil on canvas.

    Source: Vasily Kandinsky. Painting with Green Center, 1913. The Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain: The Art Institute of Chicago Open Access (CC0). Object 8987.

    Museum record

Reproduced from public-domain museum images. Clara Mendes is not affiliated with or endorsed by the museums.

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