Component 6

Historical Context
Wassily Kandinsky is an artist that went through a lot of things. It was because of the
historical events that took place that his style of art changed. He met new people and he traveled
often. His location in places dictated what he was doing. The major historical events that took
place during Wassily Kandinsky time were WWI, Bauhaus school, WWII, and the Degenerate
Art show. These major events all happened towards the end of Kandinskys time but they all
changed his art style.
June 28, 1914 is when WWI started and shook the world. Serbian Gavrilo Princip went to
Austria and assassinated Archduke Franz-Ferdinand (Explosion, n.d., para 2). Germany then
steps in to help Austria punish Serbia for this crime. Russia steps in to side with Serbia creating
an even bigger conflict between countries. Before the war started, in 1911, Kandinsky was
exhibiting his work with the Blaue Reiter group in Munich (Poling & Messer, 1983, p 350). Fastforward to 1914, and war was starting to break out in the country. Kandinsky then fled to
Switzerland with Gabriele Mnter, a previous painting student (Barnett & Zwette, 1992, pp 229230).
In 1922, Kandinsky was offered a job as a professor at the Bauhaus art school in Weimar,
Germany. Walter Gropius was the founder of the school. He wanted to bring applied arts, and to
reunite creativity and manufacturing (Bauhaus, 2015, para 1). The Bauhaus was defying the art
norms of how art should be made. They were teaching artists to create functional art. The school
also taught modern techniques on how to create items. Kandinskys job at the school was to
teach wall painting and the preliminary course (Kandinsky at the Bauhaus, n.d., para 1). It was in
1923 that Kandinsky painted the famous Composition VIII.

After things have somewhat simmered down WWII sparks up. This time Hitler is in
power as a dictator over Germany. At the time Kandinsky is still teaching at the Bauhaus and
creating art. However, his views and the rules Hitler set up did not agree. Already in midDecember 1931 Kandinsky expressed his uncertainty about political developments in a letter to
Galka Scheyer, in which he stated that if either the Nazis or the Communists came to power he
would be jobless (Poling & Messer, 1983, p 82). Hitler had a specific view on what art was and
if you didnt make art the way he wanted it then you were wrong. Kandinsky did leave
Eventually the Nazis did come to Weimar and close the Bauhaus in 1933 and Kandinsky went to
Paris (Barnett & Zwette, 1992, pp 230-231). It wasnt until 1937 though that Kandinskys work
was taken and put in the Degenerate Art exhibit. This show was all the work that Hitler thought
was not art. The exhibit was meant to be a laughing stock.
Kandinsky has always been strong in his beliefs even though his styles may have
changed. The major events of WWI, the Bauhaus, and WWII may have been big but Kandinsky
still over came them to teach and create art.
References:
Bauhaus. (2015). Bauhaus, TheArtStory.org website. Retrieved from
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm

Explosion. (n.d.). Explosion, pbs. Retrieved

from http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/ch1_explosion.html

Guggenheim (n.d.) Kandinsky at the bauhaus, guggenheim. Retrieved

from http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/3701