Draft for Mural In The Unjuried Art Show, Wall B 1922

Wassily Kandinsky made this draft for a mural using gouache on paper, and it’s held at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. Kandinsky is known for his abstract style and his theory about the connection between painting and music, so it’s not surprising that his works are full of movement and rhythm. Here, he uses a pretty dark palette as a background for the interplay of light and colour. The effect of gouache gives the image a matte surface and velvety texture. The painting’s energy seems to come from the way that Kandinsky layers colours to create depth and dimension in what is essentially a flat image. Look at the bottom left, there are these long, thin, white lines – almost like an irregular grid. These create a foundation of pure energy for the forms to sit on. Kandinsky’s work reminds me of Joan Miró, another artist who explored the depths of abstraction and the interplay of form and colour. Like Miró, Kandinsky invites us to engage with art that embraces ambiguity.