Interesting Facts about Wassily Kandinsky

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Who was Wassily Kandinsky?

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter who lived in the early twentieth century. He was a also a theorist.

Kandinsky is often regarded as one of the first abstract painters in Western art, probably following Hilma af Klint. He was born in Moscow and raised in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine), where he attended Grekov Odessa Art School.

He enrolled in Moscow's University of Law and Economics to study law and economics. Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching, and anatomy) at the age of 30 after being awarded a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia).

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Wassily Kandinsky was famous for what?

Wassily Kandinsky is regarded as an innovator in the field of abstract painting.

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What is the value of a Wassily Kandinsky painting?

At a Christie's auction of Impressionist and Modern art in London, a painting by Wassily Kandinsky sold for $21.2 million.

Wassily Kandinsky employed what style & medium?

Abstract style and used oil, watercolor, gouache, tempera, and combinations of these media were used by him.

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He was educated as a lawyer

Kandinsky followed his parents' wishes and studied law at Moscow State University before committing himself entirely to art.

He earned his law degree in 1893 and spent three years as a law professor at the institution. He was then offered a job as a law professor at Tartu's University of Dorpat (in present-day Estonia). Kandinsky, who was only 30 years old at the time, decided to concentrate on painting instead.

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Music was a source of inspiration for him

Kandinsky believed that music and art were inextricably linked. A presentation of Wagner's "Lohengrin" at the Bolshoi Theater encouraged him to leave his law practice. "Violins, deep basses, and especially the wind instruments indicated for me the whole intensity of the twilight hour; in my mind I saw all my colors, they were all there, in my mind's eye,"

Kandinsky said in his autobiography, Steps. In front of me, wild, almost insane lines were being drawn." Throughout his career, music has inspired him to create new works. For example, Arnold Schoenberg painted "Impression III (Concert)" after a concert in Munich in 1911. (Lenbachhaus gallery, Munich).

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He was a "typical" high school student

He had the look of a formidable teacher, with pince-nez glasses and fine clothing, yet he was largely an average art student.

He studied color theory for two years with Anton Abe and then for one year on his own before ultimately being accepted into the Munich Academy. In his mid-thirties, he obtained his diploma and went on to have a few years of mid-level success as a professional artist.

He depicted images from country estate life in his paintings

Kandinsky experimented with various genres in quest of a new art language. In 1896, he was taken aback by a Moscow display of Monet's "Haystacks." Later, while studying at Anton Abe's Munich school, Kandinsky experimented with individual brushstrokes and pure colors.

Art nouveau and symbolism appealed to him. He painted conventional country house landscapes like "Crinoline Lady" during this period (1909, Tretyakov Gallery). Kandinsky's work exhibited elements of fauvism and the Les Nabis movement after his travels in Europe.

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He was a photographer and a designer

Kandinsky was obsessed with finding a synthesis of the arts, and he didn't limit himself to art and music. He drew sketches for porcelain painting and designed interiors, clothing, and furniture. He was also fascinated with photography and filmmaking.

Before he died, the Nazis seized his artwork

Three of his earliest "Compositions" were confiscated by Nazis and displayed in the now-famous "Degenerate Art" exhibition in 1937, while he was a Bauhaus professor. After then, they were demolished.

Kandinsky is said to have suffered from synesthesia

Synesthesia is described as "the stimulation of one sense or part of the body to produce a sensation impression linked to another sense or portion of the body."

In essence, when he listens to music, he sees colors, which makes sense considering that he credits Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin" as a reason for abandoning law and pursuing painting.

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He created the first abstract painting in the world

"Picture with a Circle" is regarded as Kandinsky's first abstract painting and the world's first abstract artwork. It was created in 1911 and is currently on exhibit in Georgia's National Museum in Tbilisi.

Nature, according to the artist, inspires creativity, but it is pointless to imitate it. Instead, color establishes the work's basic emotional tone and aids in its arrangement, while the form is a collection of planes and lines that produce movement.

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He was dubbed a drug addict and a lunatic by critics

Kandinsky's initial abstract paintings were preceded by a gradual simplification and destruction of form, which he used in both painting and xylography.

Kandinsky's "Sketch for "Composition II" was shown in the New Munich Artists' Association's second exhibition in 1910, which featured artists such as Picasso, Braque, and van Dongen (Guggenheim Museum, New York). Critics panned it, stating that it was painted by a lunatic or someone "under the influence of opium or hashish."

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He pioneered the development of new genres

Kandinsky established a new classification of genres by abandoning a subject matter in his paintings.

He gave color a new lease on life

Colors had worth in and of themselves for Kandinsky, regardless of the subject matter of a painting. His paintings were dubbed "alive creatures" by him, and he believed they had the ability to reach the beholder's soul.

Kandinsky devised his own links based on Goethe's theories: yellow evokes the sound of the flute, is associated with earthly objects, emphasizes movement toward the spectator, and corresponds to a triangle.

Blue, on the other hand, is associated with cosmic calmness, sadness, movement away from the viewer, a circle, and the sound of the cello. Green represents immobility and a lack of emotion, whereas red represents seething inside and the shape of a square.

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He was at odds with Russian avant-garde painters' rationalism

Kandinsky's works were illogical and passionate, in contrast to the rationalism of other Russian avant-garde artists. After the revolution, Kandinsky began teaching at newly founded art institutes with Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, and Lyubov Popova, and this separation grew even more apparent.

Kandinsky came to the Bauhaus in Germany in 1922 after being unable to fulfill his ideals in Russia. He taught mural painting and analytical drawing there.

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He did not adhere to the USSR's spirit

Wassily Kandinsky was a prolific artist who produced a large number of works. Kandinsky produced around 200 paintings and several sketches between 1909 and 1914 when he was exploring abstraction.

Many of them have gone missing. They were consigned to provincial museums and hidden in storerooms in the Soviet Union because they did not conform to the ethos of socialist realism, which was the dominant art form at the time. They were labeled as degenerate art in Nazi Germany.

On December 13, 1944, in France, he died of cerebrovascular illness

This condition, which affects the blood arteries in the brain, can result in slurred speech, muscle weakness, and strokes.

Unfortunately, as a result, Kandinsky lived a somewhat lonely existence during his later years, unable to paint or play music due to his condition. During his dying days, some believe he was despondent and heartbroken.

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