An Essay On Kandinsky Art Theory

In the early twentieth century, the Russian born painter Wassily Kandinsky, was well known as the leader of the abstract movement. Kandinsky was born in Moscow on December 4, 1866, in which he discovered his love for drawing and painting. Kandinsky was inspired by Monet which resulted in the desire for him to experiment different ways using color on canvas. Kandinsky’s love for art started when he was just a young boy. His parents were both interested in music; however, their marriage ended in divorce leaving five-year-old Kandinsky with his aunt in Odessa. With his aunt he learned to play the piano and cello in grammar school and also studied drawing with a couch. Kandinsky followed the wishes of his parents and went to law school at University of Moscow. After he realized that a career in law wasn’t for him, he decided to abandon his career and move to Munich to devote his time and effort to art (Bio.com 1).

When Kandinsky lived in Munich he was accepted into a private painting school. However, Wassily focused primarily on his own studies and theories. These theories were based on the relationship between music and color. In result of these theories, he formed artist groups with other painters. Kandinsky also taught his own art classes and taught others his theories of art. Kandinsky was influenced by the constructivist movement which is clearly shown throughout his artwork because of the use of harsh lines and dark dots. “Kandinsky died of cardiovascular disease in Neuilly-sur-Seine,

France, on December 13, 1944” (Bio.com 1).
One of Wassily Kandinsky abstract paintings is titled Yellow, Red, Blue, which was created in 1925 in Alten / Dessau-Alten, Germany. This piece is 127cm. x 200cm. and is made up of bright colors and geometric shapes. The medium used to create this piece is oil on canvas. This painting was done in “Kandinsky’s ‘cold romanticism’ phase which was also during the time when he was teaching at the Bauhaus” ("Yellow Red Blue by Wassily Kandinsky" 1). During his time at the Bauhaus, Kandinsky focused studies on primary colors and basic shapes such as triangle, squares, and circles.
Figure one, Yellow, Red, Blue is a very unique abstract painting that uses form, color, and line. There is no specific focal point of the piece because of the use of so many different colors and shapes, which allow our eyes to travel the piece. The colors used to create this piece are mainly different shades of primary and secondary colors. The forms on the left side of the composition are primarily yellow surrounded by blue, while the opposite side is purple surrounded by yellow. Our eyes are drawn to the darker value of color on the right side of the piece, then our eyes travel to the left side where the lighter values take over. Kandinsky uses a small amount of black throughout his piece. The color black is more dominant on the right hand side. Lastly, the small amount of purple used around the border contrasts with the right side making the piece unified. Based on the colors of the piece, you can look at it as the left side being the sunrise and the right side being the sunset. This piece also uses a variety of different forms and shapes. It consists of many horizontal and vertical lines, but also geometric shapes such as squares, circles, and triangles. The small checkerboard pieces in the painting are placed in certain positions to create depth. The black and white checkerboard is painted very small to create the illusion that it is further back than the colored checkerboards which are painted largely. There is a lot of movement throughout this piece because of the variety of different colors and shapes that work together to allow your eyes to travel.
Another one of Wassily Kandinsky’s famous paintings is the Circles in a Circle, painted in 1923.

The medium used to create this piece is oil on canvas and the dimensions are 98.7 × 95.6 cm. Kandinsky thought of circles as a perfect balance of concentric and exocentric, he felt circles were significant and symbolic (Circles in a Circle 2). This piece is made mainly of circles which shows Kandinsky’s distinctive style of using geometric shapes that emerged from the early

1920’s.
Figure two, Circles in a Circle is painted in an interesting way that differs from the piece Yellow, Red, Blue. With this painting, Kandinsky uses mainly circles, unlike in his previous painting that combined many other geometric shapes. This piece focuses a lot on pattern and line. The background of this painting is a beige color with two horizontal lines crossing over each other. These two lines bring forward the shapes that are within the circle. In the middle of the large figure there are medium circles that contrast in value with the two horizontal lines. This allows your eyes to bounce back and forth between the background and the circles. The small vertical and horizontal black lines that cross over the variety of circles, create a balance with the extreme dark value that are eyes immediately are drawn to. In the center, all of the circles overlap together and are painted with lighter values. The artist experiments using primary and secondary colors in this piece; however, the primary color that stands out are the red circles. One of the red circles has a bold outline while another has a dark dot in the center. These shapes contrast with the bold dark outline of the larger circle. Size is a big component. Each circle varies in size; some are tiny, others medium, and some large. Without these size variations our eyes wouldn’t travel the piece. Lastly, this painting is all about pattern. Each small line is drawn in a certain way whether that is horizontal or vertical and every different sized circle is painted repeatedly twice or more.
The third piece created by Wassily Kandinsky, is Autumn in Bavaria, painted in 1908. The medium used to create this piece is oil on cardboard and the dimensions are 45 x 33 cm. This is one of Kandinsky’s first expressionism pieces that he created; this is a landscape painting (wikiart 1). Kandinsky is very well known for his abstract pieces; however, he is also known for a few paintings that aren’t abstract.
Figure Three, Autumn in Bavaria is painted much different from the other paintings that have been deconstructed. This piece has no geometric shapes unlike the paintings Yellow, Red, Blue and Circles in a Circle. In this piece, Kandinsky demonstrates the elements color and texture. The focal point of the piece is the building in the background because there is major highlight on the walkway that pulls your eyes towards the back of the painting. Our eyes travel from the back of the piece and then move forward to the front of the piece where the trees take over. This painting is made up of warm colors which portray the colors of the season autumn which is the name of the piece. The colors in this painting are separated from the left side to the right side. The left side is primarily yellow with no red or orange, while the right side is red and orange with little yellow. The primary color yellow is used to form the leaves on the tree, these contrast with the small streaks of yellow on the sidewalk which allow our eyes to read the piece better. Also, there are white streaks on the sidewalk which contrast with the building further back in the painting. The dark value that shows the shadow of the tree separates the back of the painting with the front of the painting. Kandinsky uses a large amount of texture throughout this piece specifically. He doesn’t focus on blending but layering the paint. For example, in the sidewalk, the artist uses white, different values of blue, yellow, and green. He used a combination of short and long brushstrokes to create the value of the sidewalk. Kandinsky uses a different method of painting in this piece. Instead of painting precise shapes and forms, this piece shows a great deal of texture.
In conclusion, Wassily Kandinsky was the Russian painter who was not only great at abstract but also other forms of painting. He was forced into going to school for law by his parents and decided that art was what he wanted to do. Kandinsky was passionate about he felt about art. He wanted to share his theories about color to other people. He wanted to inspire young artists and he wanted them to be open to new ideas and painting techniques.
Kandinsky is well known for his paintings such as the Yellow, Red, Blue, Circles in a Circle, and Autumn in Bavaria; however, there are many more pieces that he created. The piece Yellow, Red, Blue is known for its unique combination of geometric shapes and lines and the variety of color used. The second piece, Circles in a Circle, is known for its use of only one geometric shape and his use of horizontal and vertical lines. Lastly, Kandinsky is well known for his expressionist painting because he was known as the abstract leader. When he did create Autumn in Bavaria, he painted it in a very different way than all of his other pieces. His brushstrokes showed in this piece. Kandinsky showed extreme texture in this piece unlike in his two previous works. Wassily Kandinsky will forever be known as the abstract leader, but we must not forget that he created some great expressionist paintings as well. He was not only an abstract leader but also a teacher to other young artists.