Wassily Kandinsky
/1866-1944/
Wassily Kandinsky was a painter and art theorist, widely credited as the pioneer of abstract art. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky began his career as a lawyer before he turned to art and moved to Munich to study painting. He was associated with the Blue Rider group, a circle of artists who sought to break free from traditional styles and express their innermost emotions through abstract forms and vibrant colors.
Kandinsky's early works were influenced by Russian folk art and the French Impressionists, but he gradually developed his own unique style characterized by non-representational forms and bold, vivid colors. He believed that art should be free from the constraints of depicting the physical world and instead aim to evoke spiritual and emotional responses in the viewer. Kandinsky's contributions to abstract art and his writings on the subject, such as his book "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," continue to influence artists and art theorists to this day.