Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons)

1913 · Painting

Over het schilderij

In his 1912 book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Vasily Kandinsky made an analogy between music and painting as two means of abstraction, a radical mode of artmaking that freed color and line from their traditionally representational functions. Between 1910 and 1914 he produced “improvisations,” works he described as unconscious, spontaneous expressions. Kandinsky commented on Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons) in a letter to Arthur Jerome Eddy, a friend and collector from Chicago: “The cannons . . . could probably be explained by the constant war talk going on through the year [but] the true contents are what the spectator experiences while under the effect of the forms and color combinations of the picture.”

Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0

Gegevens

Inventarisnummer

Intussen, in het leven van Vasily Kandinsky

Het hele leven

1910–1911
The treatise “Concerning the Spiritual in Art”
The treatise defended and promoted abstract art and affirmed that all forms of art are equally capable of reaching spirituality; colour in a painting can be autonomous, apart from the depiction of an object. Kandinsky distinguished three kinds of painting: impressions, improvisations and compositions.
1910–1912
The Izdebsky Salons and the Knave of Diamonds
With the Neue Künstlervereinigung Kandinsky took part in two international Izdebsky Salons in Russian cities, from December 1910 to May 1911; in 1910 and 1912 he also exhibited with the Knave of Diamonds.
1911
The birth of the Blue Rider
After the earlier association dissolved Kandinsky formed the Blue Rider with August Macke, Franz Marc, Albert Bloch and Gabriele Münter. The group issued an almanac and held two exhibitions; the war ended further plans.
1911
His first solo exhibition
His first solo exhibition took place in the same years, when the Blue Rider was being born.
1911
Divorce from his first wife
Kandinsky was divorced from Anna Chemyakina; his relationship with Münter was nevertheless never formalized.
1914