5-Star Kandinsky Exhibition from Centre Pompidou arrives in Amsterdam

Kandinsky is the first exhibition of the new H’ART Museum in collaboration with one of its permanent museum partners for the coming years, Centre Pompidou. The Paris art museum houses the most complete Kandinsky collection in the world. Therefrom more than 60 artworks have been selected. Together they provide an impressive overview of the artist’s oeuvre. From his early figurative, almost impressionist work to the signature abstract paintings, which later evolved into more organic and hybrid forms on canvas.

Mit dem Schwarzen Bogen (1912) is a key example of the artist’s idea to strive for ‘autonomous’ art; detached from the figurative world, freed from any reference to reality. All leading towards the important role that Kandinsky played in the renewal of painting, pioneering abstract art. This specific painting shows the artist’s development in a crucial period, that of Der Blaue Reiter. An artist group that rocked the art world with their ideas and expressive paintings full of bright colors. Several other works from this period will soon be on display in Amsterdam as well, including Improvisation III (1909) and Bild mit Rotem Fleck (1914).

In this large square masterpiece (189 x 198 cm), three continents are brought together with color, and they form a triangle. Held in place by a thick black line reminiscent of a ‘doega’. An arch-shaped piece of wood used to harness three horses for a Russian troika (sledge). With this work, Kandinsky shows that the construction of a painting can be based on detaching lines and colors from their original form and on disorder rather than harmony. The forms seem to be colliding with each other at every moment. This grand idea of dissonance (discord), which he discovered in the musical compositions of his friend Arnold Schönberg, is central to his work from 1908 to 1914.

Main Image :Kandinsky, Mit dem Schwarzen Bogen (1912). Courtesy Centre Pompidou