Landscape with factory chimney 1910

Wassily Kandinsky conjured "Landscape with Factory Chimney," using oil on canvas, and it's now here at the Guggenheim. The color palette is a riot – pinks, yellows, blues – all jostling for attention, which is part of Kandinsky's whole deal: to show how painting is a process, not just a picture. Check out the surface, the way the paint is laid on thick in some spots, almost like frosting, and thin in others, so you can see the canvas underneath. It's like he’s sculpting with the paint. And that red chimney? It's not just a chimney; it's a jolt, a vertical exclamation point amid the landscape. Kandinsky was all about the spiritual in art, and you can see him working that out here. The way he lets the colors vibrate against each other, it reminds me a little bit of Hilma af Klint, another artist who was chasing after something beyond what you can see with your eyes. It's less about what it *is* and more about what it *feels* like. And that's where the magic happens, right?