Note: check out our "Kandinsky Retrospective".

Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) was a pioneering Russian painter and art theorist, widely regarded as a founder of abstract art. Born in Moscow, he initially studied law and economics before turning to art at age 30, enrolling at the Munich Academy. His early works were vibrant, expressionistic landscapes, but his fascination with color, form, and spirituality led him to create some of the first purely abstract paintings, such as Composition VII (1913). Kandinsky believed art could transcend material reality, expressing inner emotions and spiritual truths through non-representational forms. His influential writings, like Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911), articulated his theories on color and abstraction. A key figure at the Bauhaus and a member of the Blue Rider group, Kandinsky’s innovative vision reshaped modern art, leaving a lasting legacy in the exploration of abstraction and synesthesia.