Night 1907

Wassily Kandinsky created this small painting, called "Night", using gouache, watercolor, and ink, imagining the stars and moon illuminating the dark. What was Kandinsky thinking when he put down those dense black washes, interrupted by patterned figures on either side? He probably wanted to contrast the dark night with these bright figures. It's like a stage set, but I don't know what the play is. But Kandinsky wasn't making illustrations, he was making paintings. Look at the way the bright dots on the dress mirror the stars in the sky! The two figures, are they a mother and child? Are they characters from a Russian fairytale? What I love about Kandinsky is that he invites the viewer into a world of imagination. He's in dialogue with Matisse and the Fauves, but also with folk art and fairytales. Every painting is a search, and Kandinsky is searching here too. He’s inviting us to join him in the search.