Composition VII 1913

Does painting exist to depict physical objects? The Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) has been called the ‘father of abstraction’. His huge oil painting, Composition VII (1913) is an early example of ‘pure abstraction’ in Western art. The phrase ‘pure abstraction’ refers to art which abandons representation, and does not depict any identifiable subject matter. Kandinsky’s artistic career was as unconventional as his painting. He originally trained as a lawyer at the University of Moscow, and progressed to teach law and economics. In 1893, he was awarded a doctorate in these subjects. Just three years later, Kandinsky abandoned his lucrative career and travelled to Germany to pursue painting. He co-founded The Blue Rider, a group of modern artists, in 1911, and went on to produce hundreds of Expressionist works. 🎨 Kandinsky prepared for this painting, Composition VII (1913), by creating more than thirty small sketches. Each sketch was then translated into a different shape in the finished painting. The artist called these sketches ‘fragments’. ✍️ Composition VII itself is vast in scale, measuring over three metres wide. Despite its monumental size, the painting was created in just four days, from the 25th to the 28th of November 1913. This was mere months before the outbreak of the First World War. Could the political upheavals of pre-war society have informed this work? ⚠️ This painting has been variously interpreted as a portrayal of transformation or apocalypse. Kandinsky himself insisted that it did not represent “any subject or any forms of material origin”. However, the explosion of swirling oval forms and overlapping jagged lines express pure and powerful emotion. This epitomises the aims of German Expressionism. 🖍️ How does this painting make you feel? Do you think it speaks to the chaos of the 1910s? 💬👇 Editor: Lucy Jude Grantham