Painting, sculpture, architecture, photography and general art history related finds. Feel free to message me any questions, comments or suggestions.

Wassily Kandinsky, Painting with Houses, n.d

Wassily Kandinsky, Painting with Houses, n.d

Wassily Kandinsky, 1942, Les Trois Ovales

Wassily Kandinsky, 1942, Les Trois Ovales

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Wassily Kandinsky, 1866-1944

Wassily Kandinsky was a highly influential Russian artist whose most prominent works involve the study of shape, line, colour and dynamic composition. He moved to Munich in 1930, and later settled in France after the Nazis closed the Bauhaus school of art in 1933.

Because of this constant emigration, Kandinsky is associated with numerous modern art movements and groups across Europe, including expressionism, Bauhaus and the pre-WWI group Der Blaue Reiter (or The Blue Rider). The name Der Blaue Reiter comes from a painting by Kandinsky of a blue rider and his horse galloping across a lurid green landscape, though is it still unclear if the painting’s name inspired the movement’s, or if the painting was titled later. The group focused on spirituality and symbolism, with Kandinsky citing the colour blue as the colour of human transcendency.

Wassily Kandinsky, 1903, Der Blaue Reiter The painting that inspired an artistic movement: Der Blaue Reiter is not only the title of this piece by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, it is also the name of an expressionist movement based in Germany that lasted from 1911 to 1914. From the MOMA: Der Blaue Reiter was formed in 1911 in Munich as a loose association of painters led by Vasily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. They shared an interest in abstracted forms and prismatic colors, which, they felt, had spiritual values that could counteract the corruption and materialism of their age. The flattened perspective and reductive forms of woodcut helped put the artists, especially Kandinsky, on the path toward abstraction in their painting. The name Blaue Reiter (“blue rider”) refers to a key motif in Kandinsky’s work: the horse and rider, which was for him a symbol for moving beyond realistic representation. The horse was also a prominent subject in Marc’s work, which centered on animals as symbols of rebirth.

Wassily Kandinsky, 1903, Der Blaue Reiter

The painting that inspired an artistic movement: Der Blaue Reiter is not only the title of this piece by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, it is also the name of an expressionist movement based in Germany that lasted from 1911 to 1914.

From the MOMA: Der Blaue Reiter was formed in 1911 in Munich as a loose association of painters led by Vasily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. They shared an interest in abstracted forms and prismatic colors, which, they felt, had spiritual values that could counteract the corruption and materialism of their age. The flattened perspective and reductive forms of woodcut helped put the artists, especially Kandinsky, on the path toward abstraction in their painting.

The name Blaue Reiter (“blue rider”) refers to a key motif in Kandinsky’s work: the horse and rider, which was for him a symbol for moving beyond realistic representation. The horse was also a prominent subject in Marc’s work, which centered on animals as symbols of rebirth.

Still Harmonie by Wassily Kandinsky, 1924

Still Harmonie by Wassily Kandinsky, 1924

ART TIMELINE: 1924

Mandolin et guitare by Pablo Picasso, 1924: Cubism, abstract art

House at the Fort, Gloucester by Edward Hopper, 1924: social realism

Horizontale by Wassily Kandinsky, 1924: expressionism, abstract art