Vasily Vasilievich Kandinsky is a famous artist, theorist of painting. He went down in history forever as a great master of abstract art. His canvases are kept in leading museums and sold under the hammer at the most authoritative auctions for millions of American dollars …
Life path of an abstractionist
Wassily Kandinsky was born in 1866 in a merchant family. Since 1871, the Kandinsky have been living in Odessa. It was in this seaside town that the future painter received his high school education. From 1885 to 1893 Vasily Vasilyevich studied at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University and eventually successfully completed it. Shortly before receiving his diploma, another important event happened in the fate of Kandinsky - he created his own family, Anna Chemyakina became his wife (who was in fact a cousin to Vasily Vasilyevich).
After graduation, Kandinsky became a teacher at the same law faculty. Three years later, the future artist was offered the position of professor, but he had already decided to quit his scientific career and take up painting closely. There is evidence that an exhibition of the Impressionists, held in Moscow in 1895, had a significant impact on him.
In 1896, Kandinsky arrived in Munich and began to study painting here - first in the studio of Anton Ashbe, and then with Franz von Stuck. Munich will become a place of residence for the artist until the First World War.
In 1901 Vasily Vasilyevich created his own creative association "Phalanx". In addition, in 1910 and 1912, he also participated in exhibitions of the notorious group of artists "The Jack of Diamonds". Around the same time, he develops an innovative concept for the "rhythmic" application of color on the canvas.
The year 1911 was also rich for the artist. This year he is organizing the Blue Rider solo exhibition. And even in 1911, Kandinsky published the essay "On the Spiritual in Art", which defended and substantiated abstractionism.
When the First World War begins, the artist returns to the Russian Empire. Here he has a new love and muse - a young (almost thirty years younger than Kandinsky) Nina Andreevskaya.
Kandinsky's activities in Russia after the two revolutions of 1917 were very diverse. Among other things, he participates in the formation of the Museum of Artistic Culture and the Russian Academy of Art Sciences (RAKhN), and then becomes the vice-president of this academy.
In December 1921, Vasily Vasilyevich left for Germany, where he started organizing the Berlin branch of the Russian Academy of Arts - another sharp turn in his career and biography. Here (and also at the Bauhaus - the school of architecture) Wassily Kandinsky taught painting for a long time and became a very famous apologist for abstract art.
The abstract artist became the owner of German citizenship in 1928, but after Hitler came to power and the Bauhaus ceased to exist, he moved to Paris. The great artist died in December 1944 from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Kandinsky's canvases and their value today
Kandinsky created and worked out quite well the theory of key color contrasts. And in general, his creative path was as follows: from impressionism, he moved further and further towards complete abstraction. Among the most significant paintings by the artist - "Capricious", "Composition VII" (it is she who is presented below), "Blue Sky".
And even in old age, after moving to France, Vasily Vasilyevich continued to work actively and put color experiments on canvases. This period includes the works "Conglomerate", "Fragments", "Three Columns", "Motley Ensemble". Kandinsky finished his last painting entitled "Restrained Impulse" in July 1944.
It should be added that the current cost of some of Wassily Kandinsky's paintings really amazes the imagination. So, for example, in the summer of 2017 at the Sotheby's auction, his Painting with White Lines was bought for $ 42 million!
