Watercolour with Seven Strokes 1916

Wassily Kandinsky made this watercolor with ink, called “Watercolor with Seven Strokes,” probably in one sitting. Look at the creamy off-white background with its loose, washy stains of pale yellows and blues. The artist has overlaid a collection of looping forms and textures. Like most paintings, I imagine this one was a negotiation, or a conversation between control and accident, and the artist really pushing and pulling at the medium until something new emerged. I love the cluster of dark, angular hatch marks in the lower-left—they feel like an interruption, and the seven black strokes are like exclamation marks. I sympathize with what Kandinsky was trying to do here. It’s like he’s trying to push the boundaries of feeling, of what color and line can do, much like his peers did. I feel like these painters are all in conversation, egging each other on. A conversation that can be continued in your own mind.