Kandinsky Vasily Vasilyevich
Vasily Vasilyevich Kandinsky is a Russian artist and art theorist, the founder of abstractionism, who turned color and form into a means of expressing inner peace and musical associations.
Biography
He was born on December 16 (December 4, Old style), 1866 in Moscow.
Initially, the path was different: he graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University, and even taught law. But in 1896, a visit to an Impressionist exhibition (especially Monet's painting "Haystacks") turned his life upside down — Kandinsky abandoned his career and went to study painting in Munich.
In 1910, he created the first completely abstract watercolor in history — he completely abandoned the depiction of real objects.
In 1911, together with Franz Marc, he founded the creative association "The Blue Horseman" (the name is taken from an early painting by Kandinsky). In the same year, he published the book "On the Spiritual in Art" — it became a manifesto of abstractionism. In it, he analyzed how color, line, and shape evoke emotions and associations in the viewer.
After the revolution of 1917, he worked actively in Russia: he was involved in museum reform, monument protection, and taught at VKhUTEMAS. In 1921, he went to Berlin, but did not return to the USSR.
Since 1922, he taught at the famous Bauhaus school in Germany — this period became one of the most productive.
In 1933, after the Nazis came to power (their program declared some of the art "degenerate"), Kandinsky emigrated to France. He died on December 13, 1944 in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Features of creativity
Synesthesia. The artist had a rare perception property: he "saw" sounds and "heard" colors. This greatly influenced his approach — he compared paintings to musical compositions, where every line and color is like a note.
The language of abstraction. Kandinsky explored how color and shape by themselves, without reference to an object, can convey a mood, an idea, a "spiritual principle." He attached symbolic importance to shapes: for example, he considered the circle to be "a synthesis of the greatest opposites" and a symbol of harmony and infinity.
Three types of jobs. In his system, he distinguished "impressions" (impressions), "improvisations" (spontaneous outbursts) and "compositions" (carefully constructed, complex structures). Famous works include: "Composition VII", "Composition VIII", "Yellow-red-Blue", "Several Circles".
Heritage
Kandinsky's ideas had a huge impact not only on painting, but also on design, architecture, and art theory. His theoretical works are still being studied at art universities.