Study for Improvisation V, 1910
Vassily Kandinskyexpand_more
Oil on pulp boardexpand_more
Gift of Bruce B. Daytonexpand_more 67.34.2
On View in Gallery 371expand_more
This landscape evokes Biblical stories of the Apocalypse, which foretold Christ's second coming. In the foreground, a woman in blue kneels before a tall figure with streaming golden hair, possibly Christ, while in the background two horsemen of the Apocalypse vault a fence.
As a pioneer of abstract painting, Vassily Kandinsky thought art could make inner truths visible. An "improvisation," he said, was "a largely unconscious, spontaneous expression of inner character," or "non-material (i.e., spiritual) nature." Kandinsky wanted painting to function like music, using colors and forms like melodies and rhythms—abstractly—to summon emotion.
Frame: Gift of Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany.
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Details
- Title
- Study for Improvisation V
- Artist Life
- French, born Russia, 1866–1944
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 67.34.2
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Roethel, 329.
- Curator Approved
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