Image Essay #13

Above is an image by famous Russian artist Vasily Kandinsky. "Compisition VII" was painted in 1913. Kandinsky himself said that this was his most complex piece of art. The colors are simply beautiful. Kandinsky was influenced heavily by music in his abstract pieces. His theories on music and art made him a widely respected art theorist as well. In his own words, Kandinsky said that "...color could be used in a painting as something autonomous and apart from a visual description of an object or other form." I personally find Kandinsky's pieces very gripping because I have always found color and abstraction to be more interesting than realistic painting. Kandinsky's theories are quite influential even today and it is easy to see why - he was one of the first defenders of abstraction and commanded respect.

Kandinsky is Russian and is credited as the first abstract painter. He studied law and economics in school but always had an interest in painting, though he was not considered an artist by profession until he was 30. Kandinsky moved to Germany and taught there until the Nazis closed down his art school in 1933. He then moved to France where he would spend the rest of life, becoming an official citizen in 1939. His theories on art and spirituality (and their relevance to one another) are still studied to this day. He published a number of books about the aforementioned theories that are still available.