Wassily Kandinsky Vasahlee Candinskee 1866 1944 Spring Brook

Wassily Kandinsky (Vas-ah-lee) (Can-din-skee) (1866 – 1944) Spring Brook PTA Art Awareness Farbstudie (color study) Quadrate (squares with concentric rings)

Kandinsky was born In Moscow, Russia in 1866 4000 miles You Continent: North America Country: USA City: Naperville Language: English Kandinsky Continent: Eur-Asia (Europe & Asia) Country: Russia City: Moscow (capital) Language: Russian

Kandinsky – As a Boy • Born in 1866 (142 years ago) • His parents read him Russian and German fairy tales. • He played piano and cello. • He liked to draw and paint. He could copy any painting from memory that he saw in a museum. • Fascinated with bright colors • Influenced by the houses and churches of Russia, whose glistening colors gave him the sensation that he was not walking into a building, but into a painting. St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow Insert picture of Moscow’s influences

Kandinsky – As a Young Man • In 1886 he studied law and economics at the Moscow University. • After passing his exams he started a teaching career at the Moscow Faculty of Law. • He had many interests and apparently a great gift to teach himself different skills.

Kandinsky – Becomes An Artist • In 1895 he saw Monet’s Haystack paintings. “They were confusing and difficult to recognize”. They were not realistic. • Influence = To change the way one feels about something • In 1896, at 30, he started a new career as an artist.

Early Influences: Monet’s Haystacks He painted 20 Haystacks, all were at different times of the day.

Early Influences: Monet’s Haystacks The entire day of light playing upon the same object.

What Is Impressionism? • Name comes from Claude Monet's Impression: Sunrise • Impressionist = A group of French artists who painted: • outdoor scenes • short brushstrokes • bright colors that shimmer • Played with light in different weather & time of day

Russian Influences A Russian Scene. 1904. Tempera on cardboard, 23 x 55 cm. Paris, Musée National Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, France.

Murnau in 1900 - Kandinsky Lived

View with a Railway and a Castle - 1909

Murnau with a Church 1910

Moscow Environs. Earlier than 1908

Kandinsky’s First Abstract Painting • Founder of Abstract Art at 44. • More important to FEEL the painting than have it look REAL. • He used colors to capture feelings • He used patterns, like geometric shapes to reflect the rhythm of his work.

Kandinsky – Cossacks, 1911 • Partly Abstract, still has real elements: • Horse • Building • Birds Flying • Soldiers in Red Hats (Cossacks) holding sabers. • Tense, unhappy, doom of war

When He Saw Color, He Heard Music • Kandinsky had a medical condition: when he heard MUSIC he saw COLOR. • So, when he painted, he heard music • • His pictures were: free-flowing geometric pictographic “ I applied streaks and blobs of colors onto the canvas with a knife and I made them sing with all the intensity I could…” Kandinsky, Father of Abstract Art

Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913 Composition = Musical Term Picture Danced: • rounded waves • zig-zags • swinging curves • Crescents

Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913 1 st Look: • Pink/White Vortex • When do you typically hear the term Vortex?

Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913 1 st Look: • Pink/White Vortex • When do you typically hear the term Vortex? 2 nd Look: • Torrential Rain & Waves

Kandinsky – Composition VI, 1913 1 st Look: • Pink/White Vortex • When do you typically hear the term Vortex? 2 nd Look: • Torrential Rain & Waves 3. Lower Center • Crashing, falling colors • Ghostly

Kandinsky (Sea Battle), 1913 • Very bright and colorful • Count the colors you see in this picture.

Kandinsky (Sea Battle), 1913 • Very bright and colorful • Count the colors you see in this picture.

Kandinsky (Sea Battle), 1913 How many different shapes? • Oval • Square • Circle • Triangle

How many different shapes? • Oval • Square • Circle • Triangle

Kandinsky – Sea Battle Find the Lines: • Curvy line • Skinny line • Straight line • Wide line • What do you think the picture is about ?

Kandinsky – Sea Battle Can you find the can you find the 2 boats at battle ?

Kandinsky – Sea Battle city falling in the distance cannons waves

Compare Sea Battles Benjamin West, Battle of La Hogue, c. 1778, National Gallery of Art Compare how each artist painted • Waves • clouds of smoke • Boats • a "battle" looks like a picture taken with a camera Lifelike: Realism Idea: Abstract Which do you prefer? Why?

Kandinsky = Father of Abstract Painting ABSTRACT • not a “real” picture of a sea battle • Want you to feel the “mood” of the battle through color, brush strokes, painted lines, and shapes. • What colors create energy & excitement?

Colors Make You Feel… What is the Mood of Blues & Greens ? • Happy • fear • anger • excitement • Sadness Are there certain colors that make you feel happy? What are they? • What if Picasso used Pink & Oranges? Pablo Picasso, The Tragedy, 1903,

Kandinsky – Farbstudie, • • Kandinsky's abstracts became more geometric Boxes and Circles – very simple What type of rhythm or music do you hear with this painting? All the beats are different: • What color pops in the circle? • Circle thickness varies

Wassilly Kandinsky (can-din-skee) (1866 – 1944) Spring Brook PTA Art Awareness Farbstudie Quadrate (squares with concentric rings)