Intime message 1942

This painting, Intime Message, by Wassily Kandinsky, is at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. It’s a relatively small square canvas filled with geometric forms floating over a turquoise ground. The artist, I imagine, stepping back, squinting, adding bits, taking them away. A yellow sun with a red center hovers in the corner, radiating warmth. The contrasting linear elements and shapes have a playful quality. A snaking form in earth tones flows from the right side of the painting, and a series of striped boxes appear to be suspended in space, as if communicating some abstract message or secret code. What was Kandinsky thinking when he made this? He was deeply invested in the spiritual and emotional power of art, and I like to think that the painting embodies a journey, a conversation. It speaks to the universal language of form and color, and how we continue to find new ways of talking to each other through art.