Reciprocal Accords 1942

Wassily Kandinsky made 'Reciprocal Accords', and I can only imagine the conversations that were happening as the painting came into being. There's a lovely freedom and spontaneity to the whole composition. You sense Kandinsky, armed with his brush, plotting and scheming. He's conjuring a lively theater, orchestrating abstract forms and colors, a magenta circle like a spotlight, and jaunty geometric shapes dancing on the canvas. I see musical notations and playful, surreal structures. Look at the tension between those solid planes of black and red set against the airy, pale-green background. I imagine Kandinsky standing before the canvas, mixing his paints, making decisions and responding to the material, and thinking about how to capture feeling, intention, and meaning. It’s as if he's saying, "Let’s throw some shapes and colors together and see what happens!” It's all a game, of course, a serious game, with history, theory, and feeling. And the result is a vibrant and joyful work of art.