Lena Rivera
Before becoming a painter, Wassily Kandinsky studied law, economics and ethnography at the University of Moscow, becoming a professor of law upon graduation. He also worked as a teacher and assistant to his former professor, Alexandr Ivanovich Chuprov. Kandinsky travelled extensively with his family as a child, and later as an adult, exploring various places across Europe, including Venice, Rome, Florence, the Caucasus, the Crimean Peninsula, and Odessa, where he eventually settled to complete his secondary education.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Education | Kandinsky studied law, economics and statistics at the University of Moscow. |
| Career | He worked as a teacher and professor of law. |
| Hobbies | He was an amateur painter and musician |
| Family | His mother was from an upper-middle-class family in Moscow, and his father was a native of Kyakhta, a Siberian town near the Chinese border. |
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What You'll Learn
Kandinsky studied law and economics at the University of Moscow
Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky is known for pioneering abstract art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, before he became a painter, Kandinsky studied law and economics at the University of Moscow, starting in 1885 or 1886. He became a professor of law upon graduation and worked as a teacher for three years before giving up his career in academia to pursue art.
Kandinsky's interest in art began during his time at the University of Moscow, where he was particularly intrigued by the symbolic nature of colour and its spiritual implications. He was also influenced by the bold colours of the interiors of peasant dwellings in the province of Vologda, which he visited in 1889 to study the survival of pagan rites and customary law.
In 1896, at the age of 30, Kandinsky decided to leave his career in academia and enrol in a Munich art school to study drawing and painting. He was inspired by two artistic experiences that year: the discovery of Claude Monet's Haystacks, which left him astounded, and the performance of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theater, which introduced him to the idea of "total art".
Kandinsky's transition from law and economics to art was driven by his unusual feelings about colour and his belief that each colour had a mysterious life of its own. He approached colour with a musician's sensibility, as he was also a trained musician who played the piano and cello.
Kandinsky's time in Munich marked the beginning of his serious pursuit of an artistic career. He studied first at Anton Ažbe's private school and then at the Academy of Fine Arts, receiving a diploma in 1900. During this period, he formed friendships with other painters, exhibited his work, taught art classes, and published his theories on art.
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He became a professor of law upon graduation
Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866. He moved to Odessa with his family as a child, where he completed his secondary education. In 1885, Kandinsky moved back to Moscow to study law, economics and statistics at the University of Moscow. He became a professor of law upon graduation. During his time at university, he developed a strong interest in art, particularly in the symbolic nature of colour and its spiritual implications. He also started to explore his childhood conviction that each colour had a mysterious life of its own.
Kandinsky became an assistant to his professor, Alexandr Ivanovich Chuprov, following his final exam in 1893. In 1889, he embarked on a study trip to the province of Vologda at the request of the Imperial Society of Natural Sciences, Anthropology and Ethnography. He studied the survival of pagan rites and the practice of customary law among the Komis and the Permiaks, two related people of Finnish origin. The bold colours of the interiors of the peasant dwellings in the region left a lasting impression on him. Upon his return, he started to publish his ethnological reports.
In 1896, Kandinsky gave up a promising career in academia to enrol in the Munich Academy and pursue painting. He moved to Munich with his wife, Anna, in December of that year. Kandinsky's decision to switch careers was influenced by two artistic experiences he had in 1896. Firstly, he discovered Claude Monet's Haystacks at a French art exhibition in Moscow, which left him astounded. Secondly, he attended a performance of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theater, which sparked the idea of total art in him.
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Kandinsky was an amateur painter and musician
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist, generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art. However, before he became a painter, Kandinsky was an amateur painter and musician.
Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866 and grew up with a cultural heritage that was partly European and partly Asian. His family travelled extensively, and he became familiar with many European and Middle Eastern cities and regions as a child. At the age of five, Kandinsky's parents divorced, and he moved to Odessa to live with his aunt, where he learned to play the piano and cello in grammar school. He also began painting as an amateur at this time.
In 1885, Kandinsky moved back to Moscow to study law, economics and statistics at the University of Moscow. He continued to have unusual feelings about colour as he contemplated the city's vivid architecture and its collection of icons. He also reprised his childhood interest in art, particularly the symbolic nature of colour and its spiritual implications. In 1889, he took a study trip to the province of Vologda to examine the survival of pagan rites and the practice of customary law among two related people of Finnish origin. He started to publish his ethnological reports upon his return.
In 1896, Kandinsky gave up his career teaching law and economics to enrol in the Munich Academy, where he studied drawing and painting. He had already experienced two significant artistic awakenings that year: he discovered Claude Monet's Haystacks, which left him astounded, and he attended a performance of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theatre, which sparked a synesthetic experience in which he perceived colours as sounds. These experiences inspired him to pursue his passion for painting and develop his theories on the intense relationship between music and colour.
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He travelled extensively with his family as a child
The painter Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866. His mother was a Muscovite, his father was from Siberia, and one of his great-grandmothers was a Mongolian princess. Kandinsky thus grew up with a mixed cultural heritage that was partly European and partly Asian. His family was well-off and well-travelled. As a child, Kandinsky travelled extensively with his family and became familiar with Venice, Rome, Florence, the Caucasus, and the Crimean Peninsula.
In 1871, when Kandinsky was five years old, his parents divorced, and he moved to Odessa with his aunt, where he completed his secondary schooling. Odessa was chosen as the family's new home due to his father's delicate health, as it was located by the Black Sea. Here, Kandinsky became an amateur painter and musician, playing the piano and the cello.
In 1885, Kandinsky moved back to Moscow to study law, economics and statistics at the University of Moscow. During his time at university, he reprised his childhood interest in art, particularly the symbolic nature of colour and its spiritual implications. He also travelled to Vologda in 1889 to study the survival of pagan rites and the practice of customary law amongst the Komis and the Permiaks, two related people of Finnish origin.
Between 1903 and 1908, Kandinsky continued to travel extensively, from Holland to Tunisia, Paris, and Russia, staying for several months in places like Kairouan, Rapallo, Dresden, Sèvres, and Berlin. He settled in the Bavarian town of Murnau in 1908.
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Kandinsky was assistant to his professor, Alexandr Ivanovich Chuprov
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist, generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art. However, before he became a painter, Kandinsky studied law, economics and ethnography at the University of Moscow, becoming a professor of law upon graduation. During his time at the university, he reprised his childhood interest in art, particularly the symbolic nature of colour and its spiritual implications.
Indeed, Kandinsky was assistant to his professor, Alexandr Ivanovich Chuprov. Following his final exam in 1893, Kandinsky became a professor's assistant. In 1889, at the request of the Imperial Society of Natural Sciences, Anthropology and Ethnography, he embarked on a study trip to the province of Vologda. The purpose of the trip was to study the survival of pagan rites and the practice of customary law among the Komis and the Permiaks, two related people of Finnish origin. The interiors of the peasant dwellings in the region featured bold colours, which left a lasting impression on him. Upon his return, he started to publish his ethnological reports.
In 1896, Kandinsky had two defining artistic experiences that determined his professional evolution. Firstly, at a French art exhibition in Moscow, he discovered Claude Monet's Haystacks, a non-figurative expression that left him astounded. Secondly, the performance of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theatre revealed the idea of total art. These experiences sparked a synesthetic response in Kandinsky, where the notes he heard became colours and visual images, a perception that would instruct his theories about art.
In 1896, Kandinsky gave up a promising career teaching law and economics to enrol in a Munich art school. He was first accepted into a prestigious private painting school run by Anton Azbé, a Slovenian Realist whose forte was figure drawing. After two years of study under Azbé, Kandinsky took a year to hone his craft before entering the Munich Academy to study with Franz von Stuck, a demanding traditionalist. Kandinsky emerged from the academy with a diploma in 1900 and achieved moderate success as a competent professional artist in touch with modern trends.
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Frequently asked questions
Kandinsky was a professor of law at the University of Moscow. He also studied economics and ethnography at the same university.
Kandinsky decided to leave his career in academia to pursue painting. He moved to Munich, Germany, to study drawing and painting at the age of 30.
Kandinsky was inspired to become a painter after two defining artistic experiences in 1896. The first was when he discovered Claude Monet's "Haystacks" at a French art exhibition in Moscow. The second was when he attended a performance of Wagner's "Lohengrin" at the Bolshoi Theater, which sparked a synesthetic experience where he perceived colours as music.
After becoming a painter, Kandinsky exhibited his work with vanguard groups across Europe, including the Munich Phalanx group, the Berlin Sezession group, and the Paris Salon d'Automne, among others. He also taught art classes and published his theories on art. During World War I, he returned to Russia, where he helped establish the Museum of the Culture of Painting. He later moved back to Germany and taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until 1933, when the Nazis closed it. He then moved to France, where he lived for the rest of his life and became a French citizen in 1939.
