Parties diverses by Wassily Kandinsky - 1940 - 89.5 x 116.4 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus Parties diverses by Wassily Kandinsky - 1940 - 89.5 x 116.4 cm Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus

Parties diverses

Oil on canvas • 89.5 x 116.4 cm

  • Wassily Kandinsky - December 16, 1866 - December 13, 1944 Wassily Kandinsky

    1940

I loved this painting at first sight!

Parties diverses is a characteristic work from Kandinsky’s late Paris years, which began with his emigration following the closure of the Bauhaus school in Berlin in 1933 and ended with his death in 1944. During this period, his formal vocabulary underwent another significant transformation. The organic, amoeba-like nature of his small forms and microstructures in this phase has often been noted. Yet the forms appear almost alive, and Kandinsky treats them with a certain detachment, arranging them within artificial systems of figures and references.

In Parties diverses, the composition is divided into rectangular fields of varying colors, emphasizing the ultimately symmetrical structure of its elements. This duality—the interplay of two halves and opposing forces—revives a fundamental theme in Kandinsky’s work. These are like the conflicts in balance; indeed, the entirety of Kandinsky’s art can be defined at its core as a synthesis of divided, opposing forces.

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