Kandinsky at the Art Gallery of New South Wales: a precious gem of a show celebrating the transformative power of art
Retrieved on:
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Science, Painting, Blue Mountain, Element, Exhibition, Ageing, Time, Horse, Theosophy, School of Paris, Heart, Domination, Rain, Nazism, Saint, Solomon R. Guggenheim, Atmosphere, Fantasy, Spiritualism, School, Magic, Solomon, Association, Abstract, Mike Parr, Blood, Eye, Culture, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Art gallery, Film industry, Interior design, Jewellery, Weaving, Department store, Creative industries, Wassily Kandinsky, Blue
His work and theories on art profoundly influenced the School of Paris, the American Abstract Expressionists, as well as the expressionist painters working in Australia.
Key Points:
- His work and theories on art profoundly influenced the School of Paris, the American Abstract Expressionists, as well as the expressionist painters working in Australia.
- This is a precious gem of a show that celebrates the transformative power of art – its ability to transcend the material realm and to nourish us spiritually.
Russian imagery, spiritual realm and colour auras
- He expressed a profound belief in Russian Orthodoxy as the sole true faith.
- Building on the heritage of spiritualism inherent in Russian Orthodox icons and the inventive whimsical narratives in Russian folk art, Kandinsky also explored the spiritual realm and colour auras integral to theosophy.
- He wrote the single most influential essay in 20th-century art, On the spiritual in art, in 1911.
Speaking directly to the soul
- Kandinsky invites the viewer to take a walk in the painting and explore an enchanted landscape.
- A mistrust of science was linked to a mistrust of the physical world observed through the senses and the desire to explore a spiritual reality that bypasses empirical observation and speaks directly to the soul.
- The eye is the hammer, while the soul is a piano of many strings […] [harmony rests] on the principle of innermost necessity.
- The eye is the hammer, while the soul is a piano of many strings […] [harmony rests] on the principle of innermost necessity.
- Read more:
Three questions not to ask about art – and four to ask instead
Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.