Wassily Kandinsky

Who? Wassily Kandinsky, (1866-­‐1944), Russian, abstract artist What? Yellow, Red and Blue, oil on canvas (50 x 78.7 in) When? 1925 Where is it now? Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris Why is this artist/artwork important? Kandinsky is considered to be one of the earliest abstract artists. He was a founder of the artists’ group called “Der Blaue Reiter” (The Blue Rider). The members of this group believed that art needed to be about feelings and ideas rather than about what you see in the visual world. Background Information: -­‐Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866. He studied art as a child, but went to law school and became a successful lawyer. He returned to his art studies when he was 30 years old and in 1896 moved to Munich. -­‐-­‐There were lots of interesting artists working in Munich at the time and lots of exhibitions of modern French art. French artists, such as Gauguin, had begun to make art that didn’t look like the natural world. They used color symbolically, to express ideas and feelings. -­‐-­‐In 1911, he joined up with artist Franz Marc and started a modern art group and magazine called The Blue Rider. Kandinsky and Marc were interested in using color symbolically to create a feeling. Blue was especially important—it was the most “spiritual” of colors -­‐-­‐Kandinsky was interested in the connection between visual art and music. He felt you could hear color and line—or translate a piece of music into a painting. -­‐-­‐The interest in this correspondence led him to move away from representing the visual world (objects that can be seen in nature) to abstract art. He named many of the paintings after musical terms to reinforce this association. Artist’s quote: “Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key to another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” “As a picture painted in yellow always radiates spiritual warmth, or as one in blue has apparently a cooling effect, so green is only boring.” Discussion Questions: -­‐Ask the children how does this work make them feel and why? -­‐Discuss the relationship between this artwork and music. What does Kandinsky’s quote mean? What type of music can you imagine hearing when you look at this work? What do you think he was “hearing” when he made this? -­‐-­‐Do you agree with Kandinsky’s opinions on yellow, blue and green? Are they just his opinion or do you think everyone feels this way? (Kandinsky’s views were highly subjective). -­‐Can color “represent” sound? Which colors do you think are “loud”, which ones “soft”? Think of different types of sounds and what colors you might use to describe them. -­‐-­‐How about line? How could you represent fast music, rhythms, a beat? -­‐What might the black markings in this artwork represent? For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky Books: Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art. New York, 1977. Mike Venezia, Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists: Wassily Kandinsky. New York Project Idea: Choose two pieces of music that are quite different. Some examples are: classical music and ragtime, or instrumental/ elevator music and Broadway musical tune, or jazz and rap, etc. Provide pieces of paper for the children to work with. Have the children listen to each type of music and draw with markers, crayons, or colored pencils on provided paper while thinking about “color representing sound”. Comparative Images: Kandinsky in 1905 Improvisation 9, 1910 Franz Marc, The Blue Horse, 1910