Life and career
Origins and training
Born in Moscow, Kandinsky studied and taught law before moving to Munich in 1896 to study art. The artist Gabriele Münter became his companion and creative partner.
Places, turning points and artistic change
Bavarian landscapes gradually gave way to freer colour and abstraction. War took him back to Russia; later he taught at the Bauhaus. Its closure under the Nazis in 1933 led him to settle near Paris.
Beyond the studio
His books and teaching connected colour, form and emotional response with music. He helped organise artists’ groups, including the Blue Rider, rather than working only as an isolated painter.
Works across a career
Selected examples, not a complete catalogue. Read date ranges and attributions before inferring a career sequence.
Reading the selected works together
The 1913 improvisation still hints at a world of objects. Later geometric and Paris-period work shows that abstraction itself kept changing.
- 01
1913
Explore artwork ↗1913
Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons)
- Material / technique
- Oil on canvas
- Attribution / role
- See the museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Art Institute of Chicago
Artist-wide context
He explored whether colour and shape could move us like music, even when objects became hard to recognise.
Arthur Jerome Eddy Memorial Collection · CC0 - 02
1923
1923
Delicate Tension. No. 85
- Material / technique
- Painting
- Attribution / role
- See the museum attribution
- Collection / source
- Thyssen-Bornemisza — Wassily Kandinsky
Small shapes and directional lines build a carefully balanced tension.
- 03
1943
1943
Around the Line
- Material / technique
- Painting
- Attribution / role
- See the museum attribution
- Collection / source
- Thyssen-Bornemisza — Wassily Kandinsky
A late example to compare with his earlier geometric arrangements.
Materials, marks and colour
Media and surface
Oil, watercolour and printmaking let him test the same forms at different scales.
Marks and structure
Early loose marks later coexist with carefully placed circles, diagonals and geometric shapes.
Palette and light
Colour can suggest tension or calm without describing a recognisable object.