Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913

In the years preceding World War I, Wassily Kandinsky painted his masterpieces known as his lyrical work. Painting with the freedom of a child, Kandinsky harnessed this energy with sophisticated vision. Bringing the exploration of color to new bounds, Kandinsky investigated the musical properties of art.

Kandinsky produced many theories about color harmony and became a leader of the Expressionist movement in Munich. Aligning himself with poets, musicians, and artists in Munich, Kandinsky kept an interested eye on the theater movement happening there. Kandinsky believed that in the foundation of all pure art lay spirituality. He worked furiously for years to tap into his own creative vision.

Considering art of the French Academy tradition jaded, Kandinsky found great solace in primitive works. His own style dramatically sung with bold energetic line and color. Searching for eternal truth in humanity, Kandinsky drew on his respect of the freshness of such “uncivilized” works found in peasant culture.

This paper traces Kandinsky’s early development as an artist in Munich, follows his intellectual movement, and documents influences leading to his masterpieces produced between 1909-1914.

Wassily Kandinsky departed his native Russia for Munich in 1896. Suffering a change of heart at thirty, Kandinsky abandoned his legal training to pursue the uncertain destiny of an artist. After viewing Monet’s impressionistic Haystack in the Sun, Kandinsky embarked upon a mission to rid representational object from art. [1]

 Upon arrival in Munich, Kandinsky enmeshed himself in the thriving intellectual scene. Kandinsky nostalgically reflects upon the bohemian essence of Schwabing, an artist’s quarter in Munich, in his countless writings. The vigorous energy of Schwabing pulsed through Kandinsky’s veins; relentlessly driving him to master a “new art.” [2]

Kandinsky spent two years studying with Anton Azbe in his atelier in Schwabing. Azbe, renowned as “most Bohemian” of the quarter’s artists, impressed Kandinsky as “…the most original and best known artistic personalities of Munich.” As a student, Kandinsky gleaned Azbe’s untraditional ideas and technics using them as a basis for his future encounters with abstract theory. [3]

 Undoubtedly, Azbe’s influence as an opponent of French Academy dogma encouraged Kandinsky to explore radical inventions of line and color, but only after years of laborious frustration was he able to finally express his vision. [4] Kandinsky, imbibed by the chaotic anti-naturalism sentiment in Munich, absorbed enthusiastically ideas expressed by the Secession and Jugendstil movements.[5]

As the Jugendstil movement gained momentum in Munich, Kandinsky opened his mind to the ideas of its leaders. Hermann Obrist, August Endell, and Adolf Holzel, three primary figures of the arts and crafts movement, revolutionized artistic theory in Munich. [6]

 Kandinsky extensively involved himself with Jugendstil design, producing a number of woodcuts in his early years in Schwabing. The linear nature of the woodcut as exhibited by Peter Behrens hinted of the impending  Expressionist school. Kandinsky noted the simplistic power of the line and dramatically employed it in his future works. [7]

The Jugendstil movement produced ideas recognized as those to precede Abstract theory. In an essay entitled, “Thoughts,” August Endell deliberated the notion of nonrepresentational art “which bubbles up from the human soul only through forms. [8] 

Endell’s early linkage of his “fantasy forms” to music premeditated Kandinsky’s Concerning the Spiritual in Art of 1911, in which he fully devours the concept of art emerging from “inner necessity,” and likens artistic expression to that of music.[9]

Endell’s abstract ideas excited Kandinsky. Nonrepresentational art first entered his mind upon his viewing of Haystack and continued to inspire him during his formative years in Munich. The insightful revolutionary tone in Schwabing induced an obsession to create “pure art” in Kandinsky. He gathered ammunition from his Jugendstil mentors, and extracted ideas from symbolist theater and poetry.

Munich’s Symbolist movement in theater, led by George Fuchs, and in poetry by Stefan George, greatly influenced Kandinsky’s ideas on evoking spiritual qualities from art. [10]

In 1901, Kandinsky developed his theory beyond the limitations of his instructor Franz Stuck and founded the Phalanx, an organization designed to encourage Avantgarde thought. [11]

Fueled by his spiritual obsession, Kandinsky actively opposed the Secessionists after traveling to the Bavarian mountains and to Paris. In Paris, Kandinsky awed at Matisse and the Fauvists expressive use of color, while in the mountains he revered the simplicity of the primitive work that he viewed there. Upon returning from his travels, Kandinsky formed the NKV ( New Artists’ Association.) [12]

The NKV showed the work of younger Avantgarde artists working largely in the expressive genre. Kandinsky’s travels crystallized his visions on spiritual art. So impressed by the primitive simplicity of peasant culture, Kandinsky merged this folk art with the wild color schemes of the Fauves around 1909. [13]

Bavarian folk art liberated Kandinsky from his frustrative attempts at creating “pure art.” In the primitive style he found lively color and expressive line. The simplicity of the peasant style enthralled him. So began the intermingling of Kandinsky’s penchant for impressionist landscape with the lyrics quality of his woodcuts. [14]

During 1909-1914, Kandinsky painted explosively. His work teemed with the fervency he so rapaciously pursued from his arrival in Munich in 1896. [15] Upon examination the mountain folk art, Kandinsky discovered the religious nature of its content. Peasant drawings depicted the profundities of human existence, from genesis to death. The work, so far removed from the Academy tradition, illustrated the eternal truth of human nature. Kandinsky felt the necessity to return to the symbolic foundations of art in order to capture its untarnished essence. [16]

Repulsed by the corpse like model of French Academy values, Kandinsky recounted in his Concerning the Spiritual in Art that “art has lost her soul.” [17]

He maintained with urgency the need for “eternal truth” in art, calling out for his peers to paint from deep within. Kandinsky despised the materialistic greed of the art world, feeling that consequently art produced in the traditional vein was dead.

Kandinsky created countless analogies between art and religion. Repetitious figures depicting the human struggle appeared in his work. The Resurrection theme consumed Kandinsky’s canvas. He developed The Blue Rider motif, to “carry message of exorcism, healing, and salvation” to the masses. [19] He viewed himself as the legendary St. George entering the battle with the intent to rid civilization of materialism; he hoped to redeem humanity with art. [20]

With new energy, Kandinsky approached his painting working extensively in nature studies. Kandinsky stressed the importance of painting the inner qualities of nature as opposed to the directly representational. Believing that every object projects an “inner harmony,” Kandinsky strived to paint his subjects from the inside out. [21]

Inner qualities of inanimate objects infatuated Kandinsky. He refers to Cezanne’s “gift of defining the inner life in everything through color and form” in his essays on spiritual harmony. By 1909, he invented a series of thematic titles for his works on spirituality. Images born from direct observations of nature were assigned the title “Impressions.” Fairytale like works portraying characteristics of “inner sounds” earned “Improvisation” status, while an intense study of the “Improvisation” theme painstakingly evolved into a “Composition.” [22]

The horse and rider theme charges through Kandinsky’s work in the Munich period. Originating in his early woodcuts, the medieval theme of the good knight haunts Kandinsky’s palette, eventually diminishing into abstract form. The horse represented a sense of “romanticism” and “inner power” to Kandinsky. In romance, Kandinsky found freedom from realities’s limitations.[23]

Kandinsky utilizes the horse and rider allegory to attain resurrection from the cages of time and space. His symbolic association, with the Blue Rider parallels his struggle with the stagnant society he loathed. By repeating key figures such as the horse and rider, bridges, wise men, mountains, and fair ladies—Kandinsky succeeds in providing a consistent repertoire of battling elements. The repetition of folk themes allows Kandinsky to develop as a colorist. [24]

Kandinsky regarded music as pure artistic expression. While he matured as a painter, Kandinsky developed color music theory. Determined to touch the heart of divine art, Kandinsky devised elaborate color systems in his work. Aware of the psychological effects of color, he achieved a sensual mood by calculated placement on the canvas. Kandinsky said that “color is a power that directly influences the soul through association with the senses.” [25]

In 1908, Kandinsky produced Composition 1, where he introduces the leaping horseman, who symbolizes vibrant energy. Working the horseman into many of his lyrical pieces, Kandinsky slowly alters the form towards linear movement. By 1911 in Composition 4, Kandinsky combines allegoric figures with pulsating color and line. Tension increases by the free use of thick furious line.

By 1913, linear movement dominates the canvas. Allegorical representation metamorphoses into gestural line. Symbolic figures enter non-objective space in Composition 7, dissolving into a hellish symphony of line and color. The canvas syncopates exotic rhythm amidst carnival like color.

Kandinsky conveys breathtakingly turbulent emotion. Biomorphic forms expend their life-force to remain on the canvas. A sinister magnetic force ostensibly beckons the free floating forms to exit the surface. [26]

Kandinsky’s move towards abstraction gradually infiltrated his work; eventually he replaced his precious leaping horseman with the circle. Geometrical form captures his focus as he concentrates more upon it then his previous biomorphism. Energy gives way to geometric line. Using color to offset the cold nature of geometric shape, Kandinsky pursues the theory of Gestalt. [27]

Kandinsky’s lyrical works document his role in the German Expressionist movement. With is strong conviction to paint from “inner necessity” he primes the spiritual well, leading the bohemian artistic community further upwards. Kandinsky broke with the NKV in December 1911, going on to form yet another artistic association, The Blue Rider group. [28]

Representing a diverse artistic population, the Blue Rider group endeavored to continue making art from “inner sounds.” Kandinsky anticipated driving art beyond any existing realm of creativity. The publication of the Blue Rider Almanac energetically illustrated tremendous variations in the expressive genre. Considered affrontive by civilized Munich, the healing intent of the Almanac attempted to provide a soul tonic for the masses. [29]

Kandinsky’s insistence upon resurrecting the world through art remained his priority throughout his life. The familiar allegorical figures of his early Munich works transformed subtly into indications of color and line. Kandinsky’s push towards abstraction catapulted art into the twentieth century.

1912 found Kandinsky frustrated as he struggled to create abstract forms derived from “inner sounds” In Painting with White Border, Kandinsky entered abstraction while evolving the horse and rider into circular form. The white border of the painting metaphorically embodied that of a “wave” cresting and falling suddenly, then flowing in sinuously lazy form.” Threatening to break over the composition. [30]

Abstraction hinted at in the Munich works later developed into precise analytical designs at the Bauhaus. The Expressionist movement in Munich aborted at the onslaught of World War I. Many of Kandinsky’s companions at the Blue Rider group died at the hands of the Nazis, including close friend Franz Marc.

Discouraged and disillusioned by the aggressive agenda of the Nazis, Kandinsky departed Munich for Russia. Never again was he to paint with such unbridled passion as in his Munich period. The enthralling spirit of his lyrical Compositions and Improvisations eventually gave way to linear executions of geometrical form.[31]

The Blue Rider never exited Kandinsky’s thoughts. He transformed such figures into geometrical representation. The horse and rider emerged into curvilinear marks on Kandinsky’s canvas. Each mark in the picture doubled as spiritual expression. Kandinsky buried himself in analytical connections between art and music, seeking to fulfill his intention of executing pure art.

The efforts of Wassily Kandinsky turned the stagnant basin of the civilized art world into a voyage of self expression. Kandinsky’s vision of creating art that “touched the soul of man” brought the modern art world into existence. His revolutionary expectations of his peers extracted unseen before energy. His constant pushing at the boundaries of the “acceptable” drove him to master color, line, and form. Kandinsky’s determination to “spiral upward” from each work exorcised the passionate will from him that changed the way that humanity views art.

Essay written May 6, 1991, Macaulay Woods, ©Macaulay Woods 2026, All rights reserved.