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Artist: Wassily Kandinsky
(1866-1944)
Style: German Expressionist
Wassily Kandinsky was an extremely influential and highly regarded
Russian painter and art theorist. He is considered by many to be one of
the most famous and creative 20th-century artists and he is credited with
painting the first modern abstract artworks. Kandinsky's work was
influenced by several important sources and perhaps most importantly by a
Theosophy theorist by the name of Blavatsky. Theosophical theory explains
that creation is a mathematical progression beginning with a single point
and expanding outwards. Kandinsky heavily incorporated this into his
abstract art and built an entire style off of the theme. Wassily Kandinsky
was born in Moscow, Russia and in his youth he made no attempt to study
art. As a student Kandinsky had initially studied law and economics
at the University of Moscow. but then later transitioned to the arts
and began his education at the University of Dorpat. There he studied
anatomy, sketching and painting. In 1896 Kandinsky relocated to Germany
and continued his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Of
great importance to the German Expressionist painters movement, in 1909
Kandinsky became president oft he Neue Künstlervereinigung München (a
guild of German Expressionist artists that he helped form). Later the
group dissipated and Kandinsky formed Der Blaue Reiter or The Blue Rider
which was named after a famous art work that he had painted earlier.
Kandinsky formed this group with such artists as Franz Marc and
August Macke. Der Blaue Reiter broke apart with the onset of WWI. He
temporarily moved back to Russia after the Russian Revolution had ended
but only three years later he moved back to Germany to be with other
artists who shared similar artistic viewpoints and concepts. There
Kandinsky became a teacher at the Bauhaus from 1922 until it was closed by
the Nazis in 1933. After the close of the Bauhaus Kandinsky relocated to
France where he lived the rest of his life and eventually became a French
citizen in 1939. Kandinsky passed away in 1944.
Here are a couple of examples of
the art of Wassily Kandinsky
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