Wassily Kandinsky Quotes | Famous Quotations About Art & Color

Who was Wassily Kandinsky?

A Russian artist who spearheaded the theoretical art movement in the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Wassily Kandinsky's viewpoint on the structure of art stressed the utilization of sound in a visual format. He heard sounds as shading, and this unique gift was incorporated into his artistic style.

Wassily Kandinsky Famous Quotations:

• Quotes About Art
• Quotes About Color
• Quotes About Life

Wassily Kandinsky Quotes About Art

“Everything starts from a dot.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“To create a work of art is to create the world.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“An empty canvas is a living wonder... far lovelier than certain pictures.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

Pablo Picasso Quotes

 

Composition 8 (VIII) by Wassily Kandinsky

 

“Each period of a civilisation creates an art that is specific in it and which we will never see reborn. To try and revive the principles of the art of past centuries can lead only to the production of stillborn works.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“There is no must in art because art is free.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Painting is a thundering collision of different worlds, intended to create a new world in and from the struggle with one another, a new world which is the work of art.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“A painter, who finds no satisfaction in mere representation, however artistic, in his longing to express his inner life, cannot but envy the ease with which music, the most non-material of the arts today, achieves this end. He naturally seeks to apply the methods of music to his own art.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The artist is not a 'Sunday child' for whom everything immediately succeeds. He does not have the right to live without duty. The task that is assigned to him is painful, it is a heavy cross for him to bear.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“With cold eyes and indifferent mind, the spectators regard the work. Connoisseurs admire the "skill" (as one admires a tightrope walker), enjoy the "quality of painting" (as one enjoys a pasty). But hungry souls go hungry away. The vulgar herd stroll through the rooms and pronounce the pictures "nice" or "splendid." Those who could speak have said nothing, those who could hear have heard nothing.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

Paul Cézanne Quotes

 

The Blue Mountain by Wassily Kandinsky

 

“The true work of art is born from the 'artist': a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The artist must be blind to a distinction between 'recognized' or 'unrecognized' conventions of form, deaf to the transitory teaching and demands of his particular age.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“There is only one road to follow, that of analysis of the basic elements in order to arrive ultimately at an adequate graphic expression.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The impact of the acute angle of a triangle on a circle is actually as overwhelming in effect as the finger of God touching the finger of Adam in Michelangelo.” ― Wassily Kandinsky ―

Wassily Kandinsky Quotes About Color

“Each color lives by its mysterious life.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Color 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

Egon Schiele Quotes

 

Improvisation 28 by Wassily Kandinsky

 

“Color is a power which directly influences the soul.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with base notes or dark lake with the treble.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural... The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness and becomes white.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The artist is not born to a life of pleasure. He must not live idle; he has hard work to perform, and one which often proves a cross to be borne.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“In the hierarchy of colors, green represents the social middle class, self-satisfied, immovable, narrow….” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“I applied streaks and blobs of colors onto the canvas with a palette knife, and I made them sing with all the intensity I could….” ― Wassily Kandinsky

"Colors produce a corresponding spiritual vibration, and it is only as a step towards this spiritual vibration that the elementary physical impression is of importance.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Color provokes a psychic vibration. Color hides a power still unknown but real, which acts on every part of the human body.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

Mary Cassatt Famous Quotes

 

Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky

 

“As a picture painted in yellow always radiates spiritual warmth, or as one in blue has apparently a cooling effect, so green is only boring.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Almost without exception, blue refers to the domain of abstraction and materiality.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Absolute green is the most restful color, lacking any undertone of joy, grief, or passion. On exhausted men, this restfulness has a beneficial effect, but after a time it becomes tedious. ” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Art becomes so specialized as to be comprehensible only to artists, and they complain bitterly of public indifference to their work.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“A parallel between color and music can only be relative – just as a violin can give warm shades of tone, so yellow has shades, which can be expressed by various instruments.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky Quotes About Life

“The nightmare of materialism, which has turned the life of the universe into an evil, useless game, is not yet past; it holds the awakening soul still in its grip.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The more frightening the world becomes ... the more art becomes abstract.” ― Wassily Kandinsky “Music is the ultimate teacher.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“With few exceptions, music has been for some centuries the art which has devoted itself not to the reproduction of natural phenomena, but rather to the expression of the artist's soul, in musical sound.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and... stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to 'walk about' into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?” ― Wassily Kandinsky

100 Inspiring Quotes About Art From Famous Artists

 

Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II) by Wassily Kandinsky

 

“Our epoch is a time of tragic collision between matter and spirit and of the downfall of the purely material world view.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“The spirit, like the body, can be strengthened and developed by frequent exercise. Just as the body, if neglected, grows weaker and finally impotent, so the spirit perishes if untended.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“That is beautiful which is produced by the inner need, which springs from the soul.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Imagination is what allows your mind to discover.” ― Wassily Kandinsky 

Pierre Auguste Renoir Famous Quotes

 

Circles in a Circle by Wassily Kandinsky

 

“All methods are sacred if they are internally necessary. All methods are sins if they are not justified by internal necessity.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Everything that is dead quivers. Not only the things of poetry, stars, moon, wood, flowers, but even a white trouser button glittering out of a puddle in the street... Everything has a secret soul, which is silent more often than it speaks.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Those [things] that we encounter for the first time immediately have a spiritual effect upon us. A child, for whom every object is new, experiences the world in this way: it sees light, is attracted by it, wants to grasp it, burns its finger in the process, and thus learns fear and respect for the flame. ” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“Competition arises. The wild battle for success becomes more and more material. Small groups who have fought their way to the top of the chaotic world of art and picture-making entrench themselves in the territory they have won. The public, left far behind, looks on bewildered, loses interest, and turns away.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

“To those that are not accustomed to it, the inner beauty appears as ugliness because humanity in general inclines to the outer and knows nothing of the inner.” ― Wassily Kandinsky

Henri Matisse Quotes

 

Blue Rider by Wassily Kandinsky

Famous Paintings by Wassily Kandinsky

 

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