Top 10 Most Famous Paintings by Wassily Kandinsky
Who is Wassily Kandinsky?
A Russian-conceived artist; Wassily Kandinsky spearheaded the abstract art movement in the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries.
His one of a kind viewpoint on the structure, capacity, and representation of abstract art combined the visual elements with creative visual sounds. Kandinsky heard sounds and interpreted them into visual subjects and this amazing talent was incorporated into his artistic creations. He declared the reason for art was for the artist's inward vision to be manifested into reality.
Famous Artworks
Blue Rider by Wassily Kandinsky
The painting "Blue Rider" brought the artist incredible popularity due to its simple composition, which skillfully combines light and color. The artist creates a contrast between the rider's movement and the static landscape in the foreground. In this work a lot of expressions, the movement seems to hear the noise of the hooves and the whistle of the wind.
The goal is the desire itself and the inner experience of the beauty of nature at that moment. The blue color of the knight's coat responds to the blue sky and dark blue distance. His white horse echoes the white clouds.
The knight merges with nature, he has conquered darkness, and conquered freedom in a world where light and color triumph.
Completed in: 1903
Style: Expressionism
Measurements: 55 cm x 65 cm
Location: Private Collection
Medium: Oil Paint, Cardboard
Giorgio De Chirico Famous Artworks
Wassily Kandinsky Paintings [Collection]
Circles in a Circle by Wassily Kandinsky
Twenty-six intersecting circles of different sizes and colors surround the black circle, many of which are intersected by straight black lines. Two light beams of blue and yellow, passing from the upper corners, intersect towards the center, changing the colors of the circles, where they overlap.
Although the "Circles in a Circle" image differs markedly from Kandinsky's other works in the early twentieth century, it reflects his unchanged confidence that certain colors and shapes signify emotions that can be encoded and combined into a single whole, which reflects the harmony of the cosmos.
According to the artist: “a circle is a synthesis of the greatest oppositions. Combine concentric and eccentric in one shape and balance "
The outer black circle, as if it were the second frame for the image, prompts us to focus on the interaction of the inner circles and two diagonal stripes that intersect to enhance the effect, adding perspective to the composition.
Completed in: 1923
Style: Geometric abstraction
Measurements: 98.7 cm × 95.6 cm
Location: Philadelphia Museum of Art
Medium: Oil on canvas
Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky
In this work, it is not a real painting but it is much more an almost scientific study where imagination, thought and chromatic effects come together in this watercolor which is now preserved at the Lenbachhaus in Munich, a masterpiece considered among Kandinsky's best-known works.
According to the artist, color was the deepest soul of the image and not just its attribute as most people think. Hence the desire to investigate the emotional content of chromatic expression, through the implementation of numerous experiments: in this case, Kandinsky's goal was to test different combinations of colors to evaluate their different perception on the observer.
Completed in: 1913
Style: Abstract art
Measurements: 23.9 cm X 31.6 cm
Location: Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
Medium: Watercolor, gouache, and crayon on paper
Improvisation 28 by Wassily Kandinsky
The main theme of the work is the crusade against traditional aesthetic values and the artist's dream of a better and more spiritual future through the transformative power of art
Kandinsky through schematized means depicts catastrophic events on one side of the canvas and the other a paradise of spiritual salvation. Images of the boat and waves are a global deluge, snakes and cannons appear on the left side, while the bright sun and festive candles appear on the right.
The artist tried to express the inner state and dynamics of the nascent twentieth century, with the resulting scientific discoveries that seemed to erase an imprecise past that had never been truly real.
Completed in: 1912
Style: Abstract art
Measurements: 111.4 cm x 162.1 cm
Location: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Medium: Oil on canvas
The Blue Mountain by Wassily Kandinsky
A large bumpy blue mountain is set against a colorful background. The background is divided into shapes and some black outlines evoke the idea that these shapes are two dimensional but set in different depths. It's as if the horses are popping up in the foreground, then there's a layer with other abstract elements like a yellow square, and in the background, the blue mountains move smoothly on top of the pink and red hues of the back.
Horses are riding in front of the mountain, driving towards the right side of the landscape. There are four horses visible. Three of them are painted in white and beige, and the one behind is depicted in a light shade of brown. Horses are not realistic, but not completely abstract, in this painting the shapes are not completely geometric. To the left of the artwork, an irregular yellow shape that resembles a sponge can be seen. The shapes overlap and cast shadows on each other, evoking a sense of volume.
Completed in: 1908
Style: Pastoral
Measurements: 106.0 cm × 96.6 cm
Location: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Medium: Oil on canvas
Picture with an Archer by Wassily Kandinsky
The archer, represented in the lower right corner, albeit with arrogance in the middle of the chromatic forest, blends in with the splashes of color that surround him. The figures that emerge from the darkness of the left side are barely hinted at and can only be recognized thanks to the black outline that makes them stand out in the colors. At the center of the composition, there are architectures reminiscent of Moscow buildings.
The painter intends to highlight the knight as a symbol of struggle against tradition. The archer turns back to fight the past, the tradition, while the horse takes the artist towards modernity. The colors used to paint the canvas vary from yellow to red to orange with some traces of white, from green to blue and black.
Completed in:1909
Style: Abstract art
Measurements: 177.0 cm × 147.0 cm
Location: New York, Museum of Modern Art
Medium: Oil on canvas
Composition 8 (VIII) by Wassily Kandinsky
The work presents geometric elements and precisely drawn lines. The light background is made with halos of colors that create a uniform surface, the large dark circle emerges among the other figures while other rounds of smaller dimensions are scattered on the surface and overlap the other shapes. Towards the center, two triangular shapes enclose a portion of the surface but leave their base open. The form represented by the semi-circumference is repeated towards the center in different positions.
At the right corner, six lines cross to form a square grid while other lines interact in the different parts of the work. Other curved lines run almost parallel at the top. Others instead wind around a straight line. Some circles are enclosed by black lines while others are described by just colors.
Completed in:1923
Style: Abstract art
Measurements: 140 cm x 201 cm
Location: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Medium: Oil on canvas
How To Paint Like Wassily Kandinsky Composition 8
Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II) by Wassily Kandinsky
By calling this painting The Garden of Love, Kandinsky makes a clear reference to the Garden of Eden. However, his interest in the spiritual was too broad for a strictly literal interpretation of a bible story. While a shining sun is identifiable at the center of the canvas, very little else in the scene is recognizable. Rather than depicting human figures and animals, Kandinsky merely suggests them. Rough sketches of couples, for instance, meld into single shapes, attesting to Kandinsky’s belief that the idea of the Garden of Love could be expressed without explicit representation of the physical world.
Ultimately, Kandinsky wanted his art to be able to communicate on its own terms, independent of naturalistic signs. He looked to lines and color as the foundations of this visual “language” that he likened to that of music, which expressed pure emotion-free of representation. Kandinsky’s interest in the connection between art and music is revealed in the titles of his paintings, which often describe the works as musical forms. The Garden of Love, for instance, was alternately called Improvisation 27.
Completed in:1912
Style: Abstract art
Measurements: 120.3 cm x 140.3 cm
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Medium: Oil on canvas
Black Lines by Wassily Kandinsky
Delicate pastel colors form the background, where the colors shimmer, the bright and colorful spots don't seem frozen and amorphous, they paused for a moment to start moving again. Such a painting technique gives a feeling of life, changing moods.
And the touches of blacklight create a fragile reality that also changes. These overhead lines are also in motion, gliding on a colored background, without merging with it. Somewhere they resemble living creatures, small insects so fluffy that they rejoice in the sun and a bright, flowery environment. A web of fine, wavy lines indicates a two-dimensional graphic sensibility, while the floating and trembling shapes form different spatial depths.
It's hard to look for the texture in this picture. Like all abstractions, it conveys the artist's momentary sensation, his perception of reality. Therefore, such moments enter eternity and remain a reflection of that life.
Completed in: 1913
Style: Abstract art
Measurements: 129.4 cm x 131.1 cm
Location: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Medium: Oil on canvas
Composition V by Wassily Kandinsky
The scene itself is a flurry of activity, with an exciting flurry of line and form which shock immediately, before leaving behind a whole host of question marks regarding the actual items that sit in front of us. Normally, we can make some educated guesses at the objects that have reduced to abstract form, but this composition seems particularly tricky.
Kandinsky produced 10 paintings for his composition series, and this group of work aimed to explore the combination of color and varying degrees of abstraction. In truth, his whole career was focused on this theme, but this series was explicitly for that very purpose.
Completed in: 1911
Style: Abstract art
Measurements:190.0 cm × 275.0 cm
Location: Private collection
Medium: Oil on canvas
10 Amazing Facts about Wassily Kandinsky
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