Wassily Kandinsky (December 16, 1866 – December 13, 1944) II

Almost Submerged

1930

"Painting is an art, and art is not vague production, transitory
and isolated, but a power which must be directed to the
improvement and refinement of the human soul–to, in fact, the
raising of the spiritual triangle.

If art refrains from doing this work, a chasm remains unbridged,
for no other power can take the place of art in this activity.
And at times when the human soul is gaining greater strength, art
will also grow in power, for the two are inextricably connected
and complementary one to the other. Conversely, at those times
when the soul tends to be choked by material disbelief, art
becomes purposeless and talk is heard that art exists for art's
sake alone."

– Wassily Kandinsky

Park of St. Cloud with Horseman

1906

Park St. Cloud in Autumn

1906 

White Sound

1908 

Binz on Rügen

1901

Kochel - Lady Seated by the Lakeside

1902 

Shallow-Deep

1930 

Moonlit Night

1907 

Kochel Waterfall II

1902 

Wassily Kandinsky (December 16, 1866 – December 13, 1944)

                                                                                

Der Blaue Reiter

1903

Kandinsky, three of whose paintings hang perennially on the right side of the blog, is, arguably, the most important artist of the 20th century. There are a number of reasons why: he was a strong participant in two important Expressionist movements: Der Blaue Reiter, as a founder (see the namesake of the movement above) and the Bauhaus School, as a teacher; and he is  credited with producing the first abstract work in the art world (the term, Abstract Expressionism, was coined in reference to Kandinsky). And all of this commentary does not even begin to cover the amount of changes Kandinsky underwent within each style, always with an amazing sense of color and composition. 

Composition VII

1913

The painting above, Composition VII, is considered Kandinsky's magnum opus; he said that he put the most work of any of his paintings into that piece.

Couple Riding

1906

Glass Painting with the Sun

1910