Импровизация 20 (две лошади)

1909

President of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München

Kandinsky helped found the Neue Künstlervereinigung München and became its president. The group dissolved in late 1911: it could not reconcile the radical approach of Kandinsky and others with conventional ideas of art.

from 1910

Begins the “Compositions”: music as the ultimate teacher

Declaring music the ultimate teacher, Kandinsky began his cycle of “Compositions” (ten in all). The common theme of the first seven is the apocalypse: he drew on Noah's Ark, Jonah and the whale, the resurrection, the four horsemen and Russian folktales, but never presented them as narrative.

1910–1911

The treatise “Concerning the Spiritual in Art”

The treatise defended and promoted abstract art and affirmed that all forms of art are equally capable of reaching spirituality; colour in a painting can be autonomous, apart from the depiction of an object. Kandinsky distinguished three kinds of painting: impressions, improvisations and compositions.

1911

The turn to pure abstraction

Kandinsky developed a novel concept of the “rhythmic” use of colour and moved from figurative painting to pure abstraction.

1911

The birth of the Blue Rider

After the earlier association dissolved Kandinsky formed the Blue Rider with August Macke, Franz Marc, Albert Bloch and Gabriele Münter. The group issued an almanac and held two exhibitions; the war ended further plans.

1911

His first solo exhibition

His first solo exhibition took place in the same years, when the Blue Rider was being born.