Kandinsky was at first a painter of landscapes and epic improvisations. He is the first great theoretician of abstract art, questioning the usefulness of figuration in art and taking as an example one of his own artworks placed on the wrong side.
Yet before the 1920s and the emulation provided by the Bauhaus, he did not really become an abstract artist and willfully ignored Malevich's Suprematist developments.
Kandinsky had developed his art and his theories in Germany. Driven out by the war, he arrived in Moscow in December 1914. Like in Murnau, he is passionate about the light and colors of the city that he did not know quite well, having spent his youth in Odessa.
On February 3 in London, Sotheby's sells Moskau II, oil on canvas 53 x 38 cm painted in 1916, lot 22 estimated £ 6M.
Moskau II is a nice example of the ambiguity of the boundaries between abstract and figurative. The main theme is undeniably the evocation of Moscow's colors.
Moskau II is not an abstract work but an evolution of an urban landscape entitled Moskau I in which perspective was highly shaken. The proportions of the buildings have been conserved between both artworks, but the detailed design of the facades and of the sun, very readable in Moskau I, disappeared in Moskau II. Depriving the viewer of his figurative marks, Moskau II offers a strange poetry.
Yet before the 1920s and the emulation provided by the Bauhaus, he did not really become an abstract artist and willfully ignored Malevich's Suprematist developments.
Kandinsky had developed his art and his theories in Germany. Driven out by the war, he arrived in Moscow in December 1914. Like in Murnau, he is passionate about the light and colors of the city that he did not know quite well, having spent his youth in Odessa.
On February 3 in London, Sotheby's sells Moskau II, oil on canvas 53 x 38 cm painted in 1916, lot 22 estimated £ 6M.
Moskau II is a nice example of the ambiguity of the boundaries between abstract and figurative. The main theme is undeniably the evocation of Moscow's colors.
Moskau II is not an abstract work but an evolution of an urban landscape entitled Moskau I in which perspective was highly shaken. The proportions of the buildings have been conserved between both artworks, but the detailed design of the facades and of the sun, very readable in Moskau I, disappeared in Moskau II. Depriving the viewer of his figurative marks, Moskau II offers a strange poetry.
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