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Wassily Kandinsky

1866-1944 Russia/Abstract

 

Brief Biography-Born in Moscow, Wassily Kandinsky was the son of a successful tea merchant who came from Siberia. However, the family became exiled for not providing a Grand Duke with a fresh horse for his journeys. Wassily spent his early years in Moscow, and in 1871 the family moved to Odessa. His aunt educated him in his first years, taught him folklore, and he received drawing tuition when he was ten. He studied law at Moscow University and found a position teaching at a Law School. In 1896 a painting of Monet’s Haystacks at a Moscow exhibition inspired him to devote his life to painting. He gave up law and went to Munich with his wife, Anja Chimiakin, to study art; his family supported them. In Munich, he met Paul Klee, who became a close friend, and in 1902 he toured Europe with his new-found mistress Gabriele Münter after his marriage failed. They stayed in France for a year before moving to Bavaria, accompanied by Alexi von Jawlensky,who introduced Kandinsky to the les Fauves style; however, he leaned more towards abstraction. In 1911, he formed the group Der Blaue Reiter, The Blue Rider, with Franz Marc and received a great deal of criticism in the press about his work. In 1914, he left Gabriele at the onset of the war and returned to Moscow, where he met his new wife, Nina de Andreewsky, in 1917. He involved himself in arranging museums in Moscow and did very few paintings during that period. In 1921, he returned to Munich, where he endured financial difficulties until Paul Klee got him a job at the Bauhaus, where he was inspired to produce more paintings. Later the Bauhaus came under pressure from Nazi propaganda and denounced Kandinsky as an agitator and a Bolshevist, it closed in 1933, and he moved to Paris. Wassily spent the rest of his life in the Boulevard de la Seine, Neuilly and did considerable work until the war broke out in 1944. He died in that year of sclerosis after a long illness.

 

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bavarian landscape
with a church

bavarian landscape with a church

black lines
one

black lines one

composition
eight

composition eight

improvisation
ravine

improvisation ravine

painting with
black arch

painting with black arch


points

points

autumn
in bavaria

autumn in bavaria

black
spot one

black spot one

black
violet

black violet

blue
painting

blue painting

cercle
jaune

cercle jaune

colour
studies

colour studies with technical explanations

composition
four

composition four

composition
six

composition six

composition
seven

composition seven

composition
nine

composition nine

composition
ten

composition ten

color study
of squares

farbstudie quadrate color study of squares

improvisation
seven

improvisation seven

improvisation thirty
one sea battle

improvisation thirty one sea battle

improvisation
twenty seven

improvisation twenty seven garden of love two

in
blue

in blue

jaune rouge bleu
yellow red blue

jaune rouge bleu yellow red blue

landscape with
two poplars

landscape with two poplars

merry
structure

merry structure


particolare

particolare

rider
lyrishes

rider lyrishes

schweres rot
heavy red

schweres rot heavy red

throughgoing
line

throughgoing line

street in
murnau

street in murnau

untitled
two

untitled two

w k
painting

w k painting

with and
against

with and against

 

 

Low Resolution-

soft
hard

soft hard

staunch
green

staunch green

contrasting
sounds

contrasting sounds

der blaue
reiter

der blaue reiter

durchgehender
strich

durchgehender strich

lake
starnberg

lake starnberg

munich
schwabing

munich schwabing with the church of saint ursula

murnau with
church two

murnau with church two

red
church

red church

sky
blue

sky blue


white

white

yellow
red blue

yellow red blue

untitled
one

untitled one