Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian abstract artist born in 1866. He had a love of music and art from a young age but quit his job as a law professor to become a painter after seeing an opera. He studied at an art academy in Germany where his teachers thought his use of bright colors was too vivid. His early works were colorful landscapes but he created the first abstract watercolor painting in 1910. Kandinsky believed color and line could communicate spiritual and emotional ideas, which is shown in his famous non-representational paintings Composition VII from 1913 and Composition IX from 1936 where he studied shape, color and space.

1. Wassily Kandinksy
Moscow Born Abstract Artist

2. Wassily Kandinsky- born in 1866
• Had a love of music and art from a young age
• Quit his job as a law professor to become a painter after seeing an
Opera
• Studied at an Art Academy in Germany
• His teachers thought the colors he used were too bright
• His early paintings were colorful landscapes

3. Early Works
Murnau. A Village Street
1908
Winter Lanscape 1909

4. First Artist to paint Abstract Art in 1910
Untitled (first abstract watercolor)
1910
Cossacks 1910

5. Color Study. Squares with Concentric Circles
1913
• One of his most famous
paintings, not actually meant to
be a painting
• This was done to see how colors
are perceived next to each other,
meant to help him in his
paintings
• Kandinsky was a Synaesthete -he
could ‘hear colors’ and ‘see
sounds.’

6. Color and Line
• Kandisnky believed you
could communicate
spiritual and emotional
ideas through color
and line
Composition VII, 1913

7. • Moscow. Red Square 1916

8. Blue Segment
1921

9. Studying shape,
color and space
Several Circles
1926

10. Composition IX 1936

11. Later Works
Sky Blue 1940
Last Watercolor 1944