Wassily Kandinsky's Le rond Rouge to Headline Christie's 20/21 London Evening Sale

Offered with an estimate of £10,500,000-15,500,000, the painting is one of the most striking works from the final phase of Wassily Kandinsky's career. Created while the artist was living in Paris with his wife Nina, Le rond rouge captures the vibrancy and dynamism of Kandinsky's mature abstract language at a moment of profound artistic renewal.

After leaving Germany in 1933 to escape the increasingly hostile political climate, Kandinsky settled in Paris, where he immersed himself in the fervent avant-garde art circles of the city. His Parisian years were also marked by a significant shift in style, as he developed a new visual vocabulary that pushed his work in unexpected directions.

During this period, Kandinsky became increasingly fascinated by biology, nature, and theories of creation. Inspired by scientific journals, textbooks, and his own observations of marine life along the French coast, he began to introduce amorphous, embryonic, and biomorphic forms into his compositions. These organic shapes contrasted with the strict geometric forms that had previously defined his work, resulting in a pictorial language that is at once precise, intuitive and free.

Le rond rouge brings these ideas together in a finely balanced composition. Delicate grids and solid rectangular blocks of colour coexist with flowing linear forms and curving arcs. Kandinsky explores the invisible yet palpable tensions between these contrasting elements, holding them in a carefully balanced state of connection. In the top right corner, the bold red circle of the title serves as a powerful visual anchor, radiating energy across the canvas.

Colour plays a particularly important role in this painting: during his time in Paris Kandinsky embraced softer, more pastel or “mixed” tones, a change he attributed to the city itself and the unique quality of its light. Against a dark background, the painting's bright colours appear to glow. A pale, cloud-like form surrounds the forms, and is divided from the background by a pair of variegated blue lines, imbuing the compositions with a rich energy.

The painting remained in Kandinsky's personal collection until his death in 1944. It was then inherited by his widow, Nina Kandinsky, to whom he bequeathed not only the works she loved most, but also those he believed best represented his artistic vision. The illustrious provenance of Le rond rouge then includes Galerie Maeght, the renowned Swiss collector Gustav Zumsteg, and the Fridart Collection, where Le rond rouge would rejoin many other masterpieces by the artist.

Underscoring the painting's significance within Kandinsky's body of work, Le rond rouge has an extensive exhibition history including its public debut at the Galerie René Drouin in Paris in March–April 1946, a landmark retrospective of the artist's career at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in the winter of 1947–1948 and the Venice Biennale of 1986. Most recently, Le rond rouge was on long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery in London for sixteen years, between 2002-2018.

Keith Gill, Vice-Chairman 20/21, Christie's: “Le rond rouge is recognised as a key work from Kandinsky's Paris period: a powerful, vibrant and large scale expression of his enduring commitment to abstraction, experimentation, and the emotional power of colour and form. It is an honour to present this masterpiece in our London season, as I remember the work well from its long term loan to The Courtauld Gallery. We are delighted to offer it in our 20^th/21^st Century: London Evening Sale on 5 March.”

Main Image: Wassily Kandinsky, Le rond rouge (1939; estimate: £10,500,000-15,500,000).