The Aesthetic Theories of Wassily Kandinsky and Their Relationship to the Origin of Non-

Objective Painting
Author(s): Peter Selz
Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Jun., 1957), pp. 127-136
Published by: College Art Association
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 THE AESTHETIC THEORIES
OF WASSILY KANDINSKY
AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE
ORIGIN OF NON-OBJECTIVE PAINTING*

PETER SELZ

AT a timewhen so much paintingis in the non-objective vein,it seems relevant to investigate

the aesthetictheories of the artist who was the first championof non-objectiveart, or
"concreteart,"• as he preferred to call it.
It is possible that non-objectivepaintings may have been painted prior to Kandinsky'sfirst
non-objectivewatercolor(Fig. I) of 19io and his more ambitiousImpressions,Improvisations,
and Compositionsof 1911. There are abstractionsby Arthur Dove, for example, which are dated
19I. Picabiaand Kupkabegan workingin a non-objectiveidiom not much later,2 and Delaunay
painted his non-objectiveColor Disks in I9I2.mIn GermanyAdolf Hoelzel ventured into non-
objective painting as early as I9Io, but whereasfor Hoelzel it was merely experimentin addi-
tional possibilities,Kandinskymade non-objectivitythe very foundationof his pictorialimagery.'
Kandinskyformulated his ideas of non-objectivepainting over an extended period of time.
Notes for his essay, Concerningthe Spiritualin Art,"date backto 1901 while the book was com-
pleted in I9Io. His thoughts were continuedin his essay "Ober die Formfrage"for the famous
almanacDer blaue Reiter."Both essayswere first publishedin 1912.' These essays are to a con-
siderable extent based on previous aesthetic theory and were very much in keeping with the
avant-gardethinkingof the prewaryears. They also constitutealmost a programmaticmanifesto
for the expressionistgeneration.s
* This article is based on a chapter of the author's forth- ductionsincluded in Mr. Rannit's articles on eiurlionis, how-
coming book, German ExpressionistPainting, now in publi- ever, are highly symbolic abstractions,verging on the fan-
cation at the University of California Press. It was originally tastic art of Kubin, Redon, or some Surrealists.
a part of a doctoral dissertation,"GermanExpressionistPaint- 4. Hans Hildebrandt,Adolph Hoelzel, Stuttgart,W. Kohl-
ing from Its Inception to the First World War," University hammer [1952], p. 14.
of Chicago, 1954. The author wishes to acknowledgehis debt 5. Kandinsky,Concerningthe Spiritual in Art, New York,
particularly to Drs. Ulrich Middeldorf and Joshua Taylor, Wittenborn, Schultz, 1947. This book was first published by
under whose supervision this dissertationwas prepared. The Piper in Munich as Ober das Geistige in der Kunst in 1912.
translationsare by the author unlessotherwiseindicatedin the The first English translation was undertaken by Michael
footnotes. Sadleir under the title The Art of Spiritual Harmony (Lon-
i. Wassily Kandinsky,"Abstraktoder Konkret," Tentoon- don, 1914). The firstAmericanedition, called On the Spiritual
stelling abstrakteKunst, Amsterdam,Stedelijk Museum, 1938. in Art, appearedin 1946 (New York, Solomon R. Guggen-
2. Kupka'sRed and Blue Disks in the Museumof Modern heim Foundation). The 1947 edition, authorized by Mme.
Art, New York, is dated 1911-1912, but it is just possiblethat Kandinsky and translatedby Francis Golffing, Michael Har-
this date was added later. rison and FerdinandOstertag, will be used here because it is
3. GermainBazin in his biographicalnotes to Ren6 Huyge's much closer to the original text.
Les Contemporains,Paris, Editions Pierre Tisne, I949, cites 6. Kandinsky and Franz Marc (eds.), Der blaue Reiter,
1914 as the year in which Delaunay did the first non-objective Munich, R. Piper and Co., 1912.
painting in France. This author is able to predatethis by two 7. In 1926 Kandinskypublishedhis most systematictreatise,
years, since he has seen Delaunay's Color Disks (Delaunay Punkt und Linie zur
Studio, Paris), a completely non-objective painting, dated Albert Langen Verlag, Fliiche (Bauhaus Book, ix, Munich,
1926). This book, translated as
1912. It remains possible, however, that Picabia did non- Point and Line to Plane by Howard Dearstyne and Hilla
objective paintings in Paris before then. Recently it has been Rebay (New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation,
maintainedthat the self-taught Lithuanianartist, M. K. (iur-
1x947), was written at the Bauhausand elucidatesmost clearly
lionis, painted non-objectivepictures between 19o5 and 19 Kandinsky'sthinking during this later period. It falls, how-
(Aleksis Rannit, "M. K. Ciurlionis," Das Kunstwerk, I, ever, beyond the realm of discussionin this study.
1946-47, pp. 46-48, and idem, "Un pittore astratto prima 8. "If Der blaue Reiter, published by R. Piper, is taken
di Kandinsky,"La Biennale, vIIi, I952, no. 8). Ciurlionis' together with Kandinsky'sDas Geistige in der Kunst, as a
work is now in the (iurlionis Gallery in Kaunas. The repro- unity, then this double volume is just as much the book of

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 14. Illustration to Chapter 6x (Of Dancing)
12. Venus, Netherlandish woodcut, xv cent. 13. Saturn, Netherlandish woodcut, xv cent. from Brant's Narrenschiff, Basel, 1494

i. Wassily Kandinsky, First Non-Objective Watercolor (I 9Io)

Paris, Collection of Mme Nina Kandinsky

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128 THE ART BULLETIN

Kandinsky'sparticulardidacticstyle makes his writingsdifficultto read and analyze. Kenneth

Lindsayin his studyof Kandinsky'stheoriesdescribedKandinsky'speculiarliterarystyle as follows:
"Characteristicof Kandinsky'swritingis the techniqueof breakingup the given topicinto opposites
or alternatives.These opposites or alternativesusually follow directly after the posing of the
problem and are numbered.Often they suggest further sets of oppositesand alternatives.The
sequenceof thought is flexible, sometimesabruptand cross-tracking,and frequently associative.
The dominatingrelativity of the thought processcontrastsstrongly with the conclusions,which
are often positively stated."'

THE REJECTION
OFMATERIAL
REALITY
Kandinskywas always strongly predisposedtoward sense impressions.In his autobiography
he indicatesthat he experiencedobjects, events, even music primarilyin terms of color, and he
did not conceiveof color in its physical and material aspectsbut rather in its emotional effect.
During his scientificstudies he lost faith in the rational scientificmethod and felt that reality
could be fully comprehendedonly by means of creativeintuition.
Kandinskywas not alone in his rejection of positivism and pragmatismat the turn of the
century.Generally it might be said that "the twentieth centuryhas in its first third taken up a
positionof reactionagainstclassicrationalismand intellectualism."'"
Even in the pure sciencesthe value of the intuitive as against the purely experimentalwas
stressedduring the early part of the twentiethcentury,so that by 1925 Werner Heisenberg was
able to formulate the "Principleof Uncertainty,"stating that there is a limit to the precision
with which we can observenaturescientifically.This did not mean a returnto metaphysics,but it
indicatedthe inherent limitationsof quantitativeobservation.
Kandinsky'sdoubt of the ultimate possibilitiesof quantitativeanalysis was shared by many
philosophersalso. His philosophy finds perhaps its closest parallel in the thinking of Henri
Bergson, who taught that true reality can be grasped only through artistic intuition, which he
contrastedto intellectualconception.The intellect, accordingto Bergson,is man'stool for rational
action,but "art, whether it be paintingor sculpture,poetry or music, has no other object than to
brush aside the utilitariansymbols, the conventionaland socially acceptedgeneralities,in short,
everythingthat veils reality from us, in order to bring us face to face with reality itself.""
Similarly Kandinskyturns away from the representationof visible objects in his attempt to
penetratebeneath the epidermisof appearancesto the ultimate or "inner"reality." As early as
his first encounterin Moscow with the paintings by Monet, Kandinskyfelt that the material
objectwas not a necessaryelement in his painting:"I had the impressionthat here paintingitself
the prewar years as Hildebrandt's Problem der Form was the University of Bonn, '955.
book of the turn of the century. The separation of the two io. Thomas Mann, The Living Thoughts of Schopenhauer,
generations is already made clear in the title, which em- New York, Longmans Green and Co., 1929, p. 29.
phasizes form in the one and spirit in the other." Hans Hilde- ix . Henri Bergson, Laughter, New York, Macmillan, 19 1,
brandt, Die Kunst des g9. und 2o. Jahrhunderts (Handbuch p. 157.
der Kunstwissenschaft), Potsdam-Wildpark, 1924, p. 382. 12. Very much the same idea is expressed by Franz Marc:
9. Kenneth Lindsay, "An Examination of the Fundamental "I am beginning more and more to see behind or, to put it
Theories of Wassily Kandinsky," unpublished doctoral disser- better, through things, to see behind them something which
tation, University of Wisconsin, 1951. Dr. Lindsay establishes they conceal, for the most part cunningly, with their outward
incisive relationships between Kandinsky's theories and his appearance by hoodwinking man with a fagade which is quite
paintings. While doing research in Kandinsky's studio in different from what it actually covers. Of course, from the
Neuilly-sur-Seine during the spring of I95o, I had adequate point of view of physics this is an old story.... The scientific
opportunity to compare my interpretations with those of interpretation has powerfully transformed the human mind;
Lindsay, which has led to a fruitful exchange of ideas. In a it has caused the greatest type-change we have so far lived to
good many instances our interpretations differ, especially as see. Art is indisputably pursuing the same course, in its own
to the placing of emphasis. way, certainly; and the problem, our problem, is to discover
I am also indebted to Dr. Klaus Brisch for many provoca- the way." (Franz Marc, diary entry, Christmas 19I4, in Peter
tive ideas on Kandinsky. I unfortunately have not been able Thoene [pseud.], Modern German Art, Harmondsworth,
to see Brisch's doctoral dissertation, "Wassily Kandinsky: Un- Pelican Books, 1938.)
tersuchung zur Entstehung der gegenstandslosen Malerei,"

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 THE AESTHETIC THEORIES OF WASSILY KANDINSKY 129

comesinto the foreground;I wonderedif it would not be possibleto go further in this direction.
From then on I looked at the art of ikons with differenteyes; it meant that I had 'got eyes' for
the abstractin art.""'Later he wrote:"The impossibilityand, in art, the purposelessnessof copying
an object, the desire to make the object express itself, are the beginnings of leading the artist
away from 'literary'color to artistic,i.e. pictorialaims.""
Agreeing with earlierwriterssuch as the symbolists,Van de Velde, and Endell, Kandinskyfelt
that art must expressthe spiritbut that in order to accomplishthis task it must be dematerialized.
Of necessity,this meant creatinga new art form.
It was not only for philosophicreasonsthat Kandinskywishedto forsakeobjectivereality.
Psychological reasons,it seems,also playedtheirpart.Speakingabouthis periodof studyat the
MunichArt Academy,he wrote:"Thenakedbody,its linesandmovement,sometimesinterested
me, but often merelyrepelledme. Someposesin particularwere repugnantto me, and I had
to forcemyselfto copythem.I couldbreathefreelyonlywhenI wasout of the studiodoorandin
the streetonceagain."'1
It is significantthat the humanbody,whichis foundas an almostuniversalmotif in the art
formsof mostcultures,is here eschewedas subjectmatter.' It is true that the art of the west
emphasizedthe nonhumanaspectsduringthe nineteenthcentury,when paintersturnedtheir
attentionto still life andlandscape.The conscious rejectionof the humanform,however,is cer-
tainly psychologically significant.Indeed a psychologicalinterpretation of the reasonsfor this
us
responsemightgive a moreprofoundunderstanding of the non-objective artistand his work.
Fromthepointof viewof the historyof aesthetics it is alsointerestingthatKandinsky's rejection
of the formsof natureoccurredat approximately the sametime as Worringer'spublication, Ab-
stractionand Empathy. Here Worringersubmitsthe theory that the causefor abstractionis man's
wish to withdrawfrom the world or his antagonismtowardit. The lifeless form of a pyramidor
the suppressionof space in Byzantine mosaicsclearly shows that what motivated the creation
of these worksof art was a need for refuge from the vast confusionof the objectworld--the desire
for "a resting-placein the flight of thesis of abstractionas one of
phenomena."'•Worringer's
the basesof artisticcreationprecededKandinsky'sfirst non-objectivepaintingby abouttwo years,
and it is importantto keep in mind that the two men knew each other in Munich during this
criticalperiod.
Kandinsky himself maintainedthat the immediate cause of his first essay at non-objective
painting was the shock of suddenly entering his studio to see one of his paintingslying on its
side on the easel and being struckwith its unusual beauty. This incident, he believed, made it
clear to him that the representationof nature was superfluousin his art." The emphasison the
element of distancein the aestheticexperiencefound a parallel in the theoriesof the contemporary
13. Kandinsky, "Notebooks," quoted in Nina Kandinsky, In this respectKandinskyand Marc differeddecidedly from
"Some Notes on the Development of Kandinsky'sPainting," their associatein the Blaue Reiter, Paul Klee, who was always
in Kandinsky,Concerningthe Spiritual in Art, p. Io. concerned with creating symbols to interpret man and the
14. Kandinsky, Concerningthe Spiritual in Art, p. 48. forces of nature: "The naked body is an altogether suitable
iS. Kandinsky, "Text Artista," Wassily Kandinsky Me- object. In art classes I have gradually learned something of
morial, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, it from every angle. But now I will no longer project some
1945, p. 65 (hereafter cited as "Text Artista"). This is Kan- plan of it, but will proceedso that all its essentials,even those
dinsky's autobiography,written in 1913 and first published hidden by optical perspective,will appearupon the paper. And
under the title Riickblickeby Der Sturm in Berlin in the same thus a little uncontestedpersonal property has already been
year. discovered,a style has been created." (Paul Klee, June, 1902,
16. Franz Marc, turning toward non-objective painting "Extractsfrom the Journal of the Artist," in Margaret Miller
shortly before his death, gave a very similar reason: "Very [ed.], Paul Klee, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 2945,
early in life I found man ugly; the animal seemedto me more pp. 8-9.)
beautiful and cleaner, but even in it I discoveredso much 17. Wilhelm Worringer,Abstraktionund Einfiihlung, Mu-
that was repelling and ugly that my art instinctively and by nich: R. Piper and Co.,
1948, p. 29. First published Munich,
inner force became more schematic and abstract." (Marc, 19o8. English edition: Abstraction and Empathy, London:
letter, April 12, 1915, in Briefe, Aufzeichnungen und A4horis- Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953.
men, Berlin, 192o, II, p. 50o.) 18. Kandinsky, "Text Artista," p. 6x.

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130 THE ART BULLETIN

English psychologist,EdwardBullough: "The suddenview of things from their reverse, usually

unnoticed,side, comesupon us as a revelation,and such revelationsare preciselythose of art."'"
Kandinskyfelt, however,that he could not immediatelyturn to "absolutepainting."In a letter
to Hilla Rebay,"'he pointedout that at that time he was still alone in the realizationthat painting
ultimatelymust discardthe object.A long struggle for increasingabstractionfrom naturewas still
necessary.In 19Io he was still writing: "Purely abstractforms are in the reach of few artists at
present;they are too indefinitefor the artist.It seems to him that to limit himself to the indefinite
would be to lose possibilities,to excludethe humanand thereforeto weakenexpression."21
But he wasalreadypointingout at that time that the abstractidea was constantlygainingground,
that the choice of subjects must originate from the inner necessity of the artist; material, or
objective,form may be more or less superfluous.He insiststhat the artistmust be given complete
freedom to express himself in any way that is necessaryaccordingto the "principleof inner
necessity."He looked hopefully to the future where the eventual predominanceof the abstract
would be inevitablein the "epoch of great spirituality.""22
In 191o Kandinskypaintedhis firstabstractpainting,a watercolor. The firstlarge non-objective
oil dates from 1911I, and throughout 1912 he did both "objective" and "concrete" paintings. After
r912 there were very few "objective"works. His art had become completely free from nature
and like music its meaningwas now meant to be inherentin the work itself and independentof
external objects.
Kandinskydistinguishedwhat he called "objective"art from "concrete"art by distinguishing
betweenthe meanschosenby the artist. In "objective"art both artisticand naturalelements are
used, resultingin "mixedart,"while in "concrete"art exclusivelyartisticmeansare used, resulting
in "pureart."28In a short article,publishedin 1935, he gave a lucid example of this distinction:
"There is an essentialdifferencebetweena line and a fish. And that is that the fish can swim, can
eat and be eaten. It has the capacitiesof which the line is deprived. These capacitiesof the fish
are necessaryextras for the fish itself and for the kitchen,but not for the painting.And so, not
being necessarythey are superfluous.That is why I like the line better than the fish-at least
in my painting."2'
The element of representationis thus rejected by Kandinskyfor his art. He insists that a pic-
ture's quality lies in what is usually called form: its lines, shapes, colors, planes, etc., without
referenceto anythingoutsideof the canvas.But here occursan apparentcontradictionin Kandinsky's
theory,becausehe-like expressionistsin general-did not believe that a picturemust be evaluated
from its formal aspects.Kandinskyand the expressionistsdid not agree with "formalists"like
Roger Fry, who believe that the aestheticemotion is essentially an emotion about form. Seeing
Kandinsky's first abstractions, Fry concerned himself only with their form: ". .. one finds that
... the improvisationsbecome more definite, more logical and more closely knit in structure,
more surprisinglybeautiful in their color oppositions,more exact in their equilibrium."25
Kandinskyhimself takes strong issue with this theory. In his aestheticsthe formal aspect of a
work of art is as unimportantas its representationalquality.

THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF FORM

Form, to Kandinsky,is nothing but the outwardexpressionof the artist's inner needs. Form
is matter,and the artistis involved in a constantstruggle againstmaterialism.Kandinsky'swords
19. Edward Bullough, "Psychical Distance as a Factor 23. Kandinsky, "Abstrakte Kunst," Cicerone, xvII, 1925,
in Art and an Aesthetic Principle," British Journal of Psy- pp. 639-647.
chology, v, 1912, pp. 87-x18. 24. Kandinsky, "Line and Fish," Axis, II, 1935, p. 6.
20. Kandinsky, letter to Hilla Rebay, January 1937, Was- 25. Roger Fry in The Nation, August 2, 1913, quoted in
sily Kandinsky Memorial, p. 98. Arthur J. Eddy, Cubists and Post-Impressionism, Chicago,
21. Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, p. 48. A. C. McClurg and Co., x9x4, p.
117.
22. ibid., p. 77.

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 THE AESTHETIC THEORIES OF WASSILY KANDINSKY 131

are reminiscentof mediaeval thought when he says: "It is the spirit that rules over matter, and
not the other way around.""26
The artist should not seek salvationin form, Kandinskywarns in his essay, "Ober die Form-
frage," becauseform is only an expressionof contentand is entirely dependenton the innermost
spirit. It is this spirit which choosesform from the storehouseof matter, and it always chooses
the form most expressiveof itself. Content always createsits own appropriateform. And form
may be chosenfrom anywherebetweenthe two extremepoles: the great abstractionand the great
realism.Kandinskythen proceedsto prove that these opposites,the abstractand the realistic,are
actually identical,and that form is therefore an insignificantconcernto the artist. This he does
as follows:
In the "great realism" (as exemplified in the art of Henri Rousseau) the external-artificial
element of paintingis discarded,and the content,the inner feeling of the object, is broughtforth
primitivelyand "purely"throughthe representationof the simple, rough object. Artisticpurpose
is expresseddirectly since the painting is not burdenedwith formal problems. The content is
now strongestbecauseit is divested of externaland academicconceptsof beauty. Kandinskypre-
ferred this "great realism," also found in children's drawings, to the use of distortion, which
he felt always arousedliterary associations.
Since the "great abstraction"excludes"real" objects,the content is embodiedin non-objective
form. Thus the "inner sound" of the picture is most clearly manifest. The scaffolding of the
object has been removed, as in realismthe scaffoldingof beautyhas been discarded.In both cases
we arrive at the spiritual content itself. "The greatest external differentiationbecomes the
greatest internal identity:
Realism = Abstraction
Abstraction = Realism"27"'

The hypothesisthat the minimum of abstractioncan have the most abstracteffect, and vice
versa, is based by Kandinskyon the postulationthat a quantitativedecrease can be equal to a
qualitativeincrease:2 plus I canbe less than 2 minus I in aesthetics.A dot of color, for example,
may lose in its effect of intensityif its actual intensity is increased.""The pragmaticfunction of a
form and its sentientmeaningare dissimilar,yet abstractionand realism are identical.
Kandinskycites several examples to prove this thesis. A hyphen, for instance,is of practical
value and significancein its context.If this hyphen is taken out of its practical-purposeful context
and put on canvas,and if it is not used there to fulfill any practicalpurposeat all--such as the
delineation of an object-it then becomes nothing but a line; it is completely liberated from
significationand abstractedfrom all its meaningas a syntacticalsign; it is the abstractline itself.
At the same time, however, it has also become most real, because now it is no longer a sign but
the real line, the object itself.
It may be argued that Kandinskyuses a very narrowdefinitionof both the abstractand the
realistic,and that the line may be a great deal more realisticand more meaningfulas a sign, such
as a hyphen, in its context, than it is as a line only. It is a valid objectionto say that this identity
of the abstractand the real holds true only in this verbal analogy, and that Kandinskyhas not
presentedlogical proof. Kandinsky,however, was not concernedwith the correctnessof intel-
lectual thought, or with the proof of his spiritual values. He admits: "I have always turned
to reason and intellect least of all.')29
He concludeshis analysis of form by saying: "In principle there is no problem of form."30
The artistwho expresses his "soul vibrations"canuse any form he wants.Formal rules in aesthetics
26. Kandinsky, "Text Artista," p. 64. p. 85.
27. Kandinsky, "Ober die Formfrage," Der blaue Reiter, 28. ibid., p. 84. 29. Kandinsky,"Text Artista," p. 71.

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132 THE ART BULLETIN

are not only impossiblebut a great stumblingblock to the free expressionof spiritualvalue. It
is the duty of the artist to fight againstthem to clear the way for free expression.Often in the
history of art, artists were bogged down by matter and could not see beyond the formal. The
nineteenthcenturywas such a period, in which men failed to see the spirit in art as they failed
to see it in religion. But to seek art and yet be satisfiedwith form is equivalent to the content-
ment with the idol in the quest for God. Form is dead unless it is expressiveof content. There
cannotbe a symbol without expressivevalue.
In his introductionto the second edition of Der blaue Reiter Kandinskystates the aim of the
book as "to show by means of examples, practicalarrangementand theoreticalproof, that the
problemof form is secondaryin art, that art is above all a matter of content.""'
Kandinskyunderstoodhis own time as being the beginning of a new spiritualage when the
abstractspirit was taking possessionof the human spirit." Now artistswould increasinglyrecog-
nize the insignificanceof form per se, and realize its relativity, its true meaning as nothing but
"the outwardexpressionof inner meaning."

ART THE AFFIRMATION OF THE SPIRIT

We have seen that in Kandinsky'saestheticsform as well as object, the formal and representa-
tional aspectsof art, have no importanceby themselves and are meaningful only insofar as they
expressthe artist'sinnermostfeelings. Only through the expressionof the artist'sinner emotion
can he transmitunderstandingof true spiritualreality itself. The only "infallible guide" which
can carry the artist to "great heights" is the principle of internal necessity (italics his)." This con-
cept of internal necessityis the core and the basis of Kandinsky'saesthetictheory and becomes
a highly significantelement in expressionistcriticismin general.
The period of spiritual revolution which Kandinskybelieved to be approaching,he called
the "spiritual turning point." He perceived indicationsof this period of transition in many
culturalmanifestations.In the field of religion,for instance,Theosophywas attemptingto counter-
act the materialistevil. In the TheosophicalSociety,"one of the most importantspiritualmove-
ments,""man seeks to approachthe problemof the spirit by the way of inner enlightenment.In
the realm of literature he cites Maeterlinck as, ". . . perhaps one of the first prophets, one of the
firstreportersand clairvoyantsof the decadence... Maeterlinckcreateshis atmosphereprincipally
by artistic means. His material machinery . . . really plays a symbolic role and helps to give
the inner note .... The apt use of a word (in its poetical sense), its repetition, twice, three times,
or even more frequently,accordingto the need of the poem, will not only tend to intensify the
internalstructurebut also bring out unsuspectedspiritualpropertiesin the word itself."""
By using pure sound for the most immediate effect upon the reader or listener, the writer
depends on prelanguagesigns, i.e., sounds which-like music-do not depend on language for
their meaning.This level of significationis also the basisof Kandinsky'snon-objectivepainting.In
musicKandinskypoints to Schanberg'spanchromaticscheme, which advocatesthe full renuncia-
tion of functional harmoniousprogressionand traditional form and accepts only those means
which lead the composerto the most uncompromisingself-expression:"His music leads us to
where musicalexperienceis a matter not of the ear, but of the soul-and from this point begins
30. Kandinsky, "Ober die Formfrage," in Kandinsky and Wassily Kandinsky," pp. 208-2x3)--was not a member of
Marc, op.cit., p. 88. the Theosophical Society. He admired, however, the cosmology
31. Der blaue Reiter (2d ed.), Munich, 1914, p. v. of Mme. Blavatzky which attempted to create a significant
32. This idea is very similar to Herder's theory of Inspira- synthesis of Indian wisdom and western civilization. The anti-
tion: J. G. Herder, Ideen zur Philosophieder Geschichteder materialistic concepts of the Theosophical movement attracted
Menschkeit, Leipzig, x 82 . a good many artists and writers yearning for a new religious
33. Kandinsky,Concerningthe Spiritualin Art, pp. 51-52. spirit during the early part of the century. Besides Kandinsky:
34. ibid., p. 32. Kandinsky himself--as Lindsay has pointed Piet Mondrian, Hans Arp, Hugo Ball, William Butler Yeats.
out ("An Examination of the Fundamental Theories of 35. Kandinsky,Concerningthe Spiritual in Art, pp. 33-34.

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 THE AESTHETIC THEORIES OF WASSILY KANDINSKY 133

the music of the future."8"Kandinskyconceivedof music as an emancipatedart, which further-

more had the quality of time-extensionand was most effective in inspiringspiritual emotion in
the listener. Painting, while still largely dependent on natural form was showing similar signs
of emancipation.Picasso'sbreakdownof volumes and Matisse's free use of color for its own
sake were manifestationsof the turningpoint towarda spiritualart."
How would the artistachievefull spiritualharmonyin his composition?Kandinskypointed out
that the painterhad two basicmeansat his disposal--form and color--and that there was always
an unavoidablemutual relationshipbetween them.
In his prewarwritingshe still did not come forth with a thoroughanalysisof forms as he did
later with his systematicPoint and Line to Plane, yet he was already stating: "Form alone, even
though abstractand geometrical,has its internal resonance,a spiritual entity whose properties
are identicalwith the form. A triangle... is suchan entity, with its particularspiritualperfume.""
But color is the most powerful medium in the hand of the painter.It has a psychicas well as
a physical effect upon the observer. It can influencehis tactile, olfactory, and especially aural
senses,as well as his visual sense,and in chromotherapyit has been shownthat "red light stimulates
and excites the heart, while blue light can cause temporary paralysis.""Color is the artist's
means by which he can influencethe human soul. Its meaning is expressed metaphoricallyby
Kandinsky:"Color is the keyboard,the eyes are the hammers,the soul is the piano with many
strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively, to cause
vibrationsof the soul."'40
Kandinskythen proceedsto develop an elaborateexplanationof the psychic effect of color.
This contraststo the more scientificcolor theories of Helmholtz, Rood, Chevreul and Signac
and closely approachesthe psychologicalcolor theory of Goethe and metaphysicsof color of
Philipp Otto Runge. Like his romanticistpredecessor,Kandinskybelieved that color could directly
influencethe humansoul."
Blue in Kandinsky'ssystemis the heavenly color; it retreatsfrom the spectator,moving toward
its own center. It beckonsto the infinite, arousinga longing for purity and the supersensuous.
Light blue is like the sound of the flute, while darkblue has the sound of the cello.
Yellow is the color of the earth. It has no profoundmeaning; it seems to spread out from its
own center and advanceto the spectatorfrom the canvas.It has the shrill sound of a canaryor
of a brasshorn, and is often associatedwith the sour taste of lemon.
Green is the mixture of blue and yellow. There the concentricityof blue nullifies the eccen-
tricityof yellow. It is passiveand static,and can be comparedto the so-called "bourgeoisie,"self-
satisfied,fat and healthy. In musicit is best representedby the placid, long-drawnmiddle tones
of the violin.
White, which was not considereda color by the impressionists,has the spiritualmeaning of a
color. It is the symbol of a world void of all material quality and substance.It is the color of
beginning.It is the "sound"of the earth duringthe white period of the Ice Age.
Black is like eternal silence. It is without hope. It signifies terminationand is therefore the
color of mourning.
By the symbolic use of colors combined "according to their spiritual significance," the artist
can finally achieve a great composition: "Color itself offers contrapuntal possibilities and, when
combined with design, may lead to the great pictorial counterpoint, where also painting achieves
composition,and where pure art is in the serviceof the divine."42'
36. ibid., p. 36. 41. The following remarks about color are taken from
37. ibid., p. 39. "The Language of Form and Color," Concerning the Spiritual
38...ibid., p. 47. in Art, Chap. vI, pp. 45-67.
39. ibid., p. 45. 42. ibid., pp. 51-52.
40. ibid.

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134 THE ART BULLETIN

Kandinsky'scolor symbolismis in no way basedupon physicallaws of color or the psychology

of color vision. He himself pointed out when writing about color that "all these statementsare
the results of empiricalfeeling, and are not based on exact science."" This may even explain
his own inconsistenciessuch as his statementin Concerningthe Spiritual in Art that "red light
stimulates and excites the heart""' contradicted by his assertion that "red ... has brought about
a state of partialparalysis.""
It is also true that specificcolors call forth differentassociationsin people as well as cultures.
Specificreactionsto specificcolors have never been proved experimentally.Max Raphael in his
book, Von Monet bis Picasso, points out that colors have had altogether different meaningsfor
those individualsmost occupiedwith them. Yellow, for example,signifiedthe earth for Leonardo,
had gay, happy characteristics for Goethe, meant friendlinessto Kant and heavenly splendor to
Van Gogh, suggested the night to Gauguin and aggressivenessto Kandinsky."4 We might add
that it symbolizesjealousy in Germanusage, an emotionwhich is associatedwith green in English
idiom.
Suchexamplescould be increasedad infinitumand it is very doubtfulthat Kandinskyattempted
to set down scientificrules for color associations.He was articulatinghis own personalassociations;
he stated: "It is clear that all I have said of these simple colors is very provisionaland general,
and so are the feelings (joy, grief, etc.) which have been quoted as parallels to the colors. For
these feelings are only materialexpressionsof the soul. Shades of color, like those of sound, are
of a much finer textureand awakenin the soul emotionstoo fine to be expressedin prose.""'
In his secondsignificantbook,Point and Line to Plane, subtitled"A Contributionto the Analysis
of the Pictorial Elements," Kandinskypresented his grammar of line, forms, and space in a
mannersimilarto his color theory in Concerningthe Spiritualin Art.
It is the task of the painter,accordingto Kandinsky,to achievethe maximumeffect by bringing
his media,color and form, into orderlyand expressivecomposition.Each art has its own language,
and each artist, be he painter,sculptor,architect,writer or composer,must work in his specific
medium and bring it to the expression of greatest inner significance.But once painting, for
example,is divested of the scaffoldingof naturalform and becomescompletely abstract,the pure
law of pictorialconstructioncan be discovered.And then it will be found that pure painting is
internallyclosely related to pure musicor pure poetry.

SYNTHESIS OF THE ARTS

Kandinskypoints out that human beings, becauseof individual differences,differ in the type
of art expressionto which they are most receptive.For some it is musicalform, for others paint-
ing or literature,which causesthe greatest aestheticenjoyment. He also realized that the artist
could achieve aestheticeffects in sensory fields not limited to his own medium. He was much
interested,for instance,in Scriabin'sexperimentswith sound-colorcombinations.The re-enforce-
ment of one art form with anotherby meansof synaesthesiawill greatly increasethe final aesthetic
effectupon the receptor.The greatesteffect can be obtainedby the synthesisof all the arts in one
"monumentalart," which is the ultimate end of Kandinsky'saesthetics.
Kandinskyhere continuesthe nineteenth century tradition-from Herder to Wagner-with
its desire for a union of all arts. Kandinskybelieves that a synthesisof the arts is possiblebecause
in the final analysisall artisticmeansare identicalin their inner meaning:ultimately the external
differenceswill becomeinsignificantand the internalidentity of all artisticexpressionwill be dis-

43. ibid., p. 57n. 46. Max Raphael, Von Monet bis Picasso, Munich, 1x99,
44. ibid., p. 45. p. 102.
45. Kandinsky, "Text Artista," p. 75. 47. Kandinsky,Concerningthe Spiritualin Art, p. 63.

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 THE AESTHETIC THEORIES OF WASSILY KANDINSKY 135

closed. Each art form causesa certain"complexof soul vibrations."The aim of the synthesisof
art forms is the refinementof the soul through the sum-totalof these complexes.
In his essay "Ober Biihnenkomposition"48 and in his "SchematicPlan of Studies and Work of
the Institute of Art Culture,""Kandinskyoutlines the possiblesteps to be taken for the achieve-
ment of "monumentalart." Present-daydrama,opera,ballet are criticizedas much as the plastic
arts. By discardingexternal factors in "stage composition,""5 particularlythe factors of plot,
externalrelationship,and externalunity, a greaterinternalunity can be achieved.Kandinskythen
experimentswith such a composition,"Der gelbe Klang.""'There he attemptsto combinemusic,
the movementof dancersand of objects,the sound of the humanvoice (without being tied down
to word or language meanings), and the effect of color-tone, as experimentedwith by Scriabin.
Kandinskyadmits that his "stage composition"is weak but believes the principleto be valid.
It is necessaryto remember,he maintains,that we are still at the very beginning of the great
abstractperiodin art. Materialismstill has its graspon modernactivityand is not as yet completely
vanquished.But the new, "the spiritualin art," alreadymanifestsitself in most fields of creativity.
Kandinskymade his first attemptat the realizationof a synthesisof the arts when he proposed
and founded the Institute of Art Culture in Moscow in 192o, a comprehensiveinstitute for the
study and development of the arts and sciences.Kandinskywas active in this organizationas
vice-presidentfor about a year; then political pressureforced his resignationand he found a
similar field of activity in the Bauhausin Weimar, which he joined in 1922.

CONCLUSION

Expressionism,which began by shifting emphasisfrom the object to be painted to the artist's

own subjective interpretation-reached in Kandinskythe total negation of the object. In this
respect he was of great inspirationto succeedingartists. The final phase of expressionismalso
becamethe beginningof an altogethernew artisticconcept,non-objectivepainting,and Kandinsky
was heraldedas its innovatorby the following generation,even by painterssuch as Diego Rivera
working in an altogether different style: "I know of nothing more real than the painting of
Kandinsky-nor anythingmore true and nothing more beautiful.A paintingby Kandinskygives
no image of earthly life-it is life itself. If one painterdeserves the name 'creator,'it is he. He
organizesmatter as matter was organized,otherwisethe Universe would not exist. He opened a
window to look inside the All. Someday Kandinskywill be the best known and best loved by
men. 52
In his rejectionof the representationalaspectof art, Kandinskycleared the way for new values
in art. By experimentingwith the possibilityof an expressive-rather than a formalistic-art in
the non-objective idiom, he threw out a challenge which performed a most valuable function in
the history of modern art. Through his activity as an aesthetician as well as a painter he was able to
write a series of books which fully articulate his ideas and have become as influential in the history
of modern painting as his paintings themselves.
Kandinsky's aesthetic theory continues, among other things, the precept that the elements of
painting-lines and colors and their combinations-evoke emotional associations in the observer.
This precept is basic to expressionism, although not original with the expressionist movement.
Much of it is implied in romanticistaestheticsand clearly stated in the theory of empathy. It is
set forth differentlyin Paul Signac'stheory of neo-impressionismand occursagain in Bergson's
48. In Kandinsky and Marc, Der blaue Reiter, pp. 103-113. Marc, Der blaue Reiter, pp. 119-131. The possibilities of such
49. Kandinsky, "Text Artista," pp. 75-87. a synthesis in the film were not yet explored in 1912.
5o. By "stage composition"--Biihnenkomposition-Kandin- 52. Diego Rivera, quoted in "Notes on the Life, Develop-
sky is referring to the totality of movement on the stage. ment and Last Years of Kandinsky," in Wassily Kandinsky
5x. Kandinsky, "Der gelbe Klang," in Kandinsky and Memorial, p. Ioo.

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136 THE ART BULLETIN

Essai sur les donndes immediates de la conscience."It is significantfor an understandingof

symbolism and its corollary Jugendstil, and was reiterated by such men as Gauguin, Denis,
Sirusier, Walter Crane,and August Endell.
Kandinsky'sessays,however, are exceedinglyimportantbecausethey were written by the man
who himself was the innovatorof non-objectivepainting.Now in the total absenceof representa-
tional objectsthe plasticelementswere to becomesole carriersof the artist'smessage.This prob-
ably is why he felt called upon to expressverbally what he had done in his paintingthrough the
intuition of "inner necessity."
In the analysisof his color theory it was pointed out that no direct parallels can be established
between the artist's statement and the observer's response. Both projections rest on highly
personal and subjective factors. This, however, does not greatly differ from music. It has, for
example,beenshownthat the majorand minormodesareby no meansendowedwith characteristics
whichwould call forth identicalreactionsin differentlisteners."A great deal dependson previous
experienceand training.
As Kandinskyhimself has indicated,prose cannotexpressthe shades of emotion awakenedby
sound and color. Each personmay verbalizedifferentlyaboutthe experienceof a work of art and
his verbalizationmay be at great variancewith that of the artist. Yet direct communicationcan
take place on a primaryvisual (preverbal) level, before either spectatoror artist articulates.It
is toward this level of communicationthat the art of Kandinskyand other expressionistswas
directed.

POMONA COLLEGE

53. Bergson, Essai sur les donnies immidiates de la con- Hopkins University,Baltimore, 1928; quoted in Lindsay,"An
science, Paris, 1904. Examination of the FundamentalTheories of Wassily Kan-
54. ChristianP. Heinlein, "The Affective Characteristicsof dinsky," p. 104.
the Major and Minor Modes in Music," dissertation,Johns

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