Wassily Kandinsky
Pioneer of abstract art
Most quoted
"The artist must be blind to 'recognized' or 'unrecognized' form, deaf to the teachings of his time or the desires of his public. His open eyes must be directed to his inner life and his ears to the voice of inner necessity. Then he will seize all the means of expression from the outer world."
— from Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 1911
"The true work of art is born from the 'artist': a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being."
— from Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 1911
"The true work of art is born from the 'artist': a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent spiritual subject, an animate being that lives, breathes, and has a real existence."
— from Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 1911
All quotes by Wassily Kandinsky (342)
I see in nature the struggle of opposites.
Black is nothing, white is everything.
The artist calls forth the spiritual.
Red demands attention.
The square is the most grounded form.
Art is a bridge to the infinite.
I paint what I feel, not what I see.
The future belongs to the abstract.
Silence in art is as important as sound.
The soul vibrates with color.
Geometry is the language of the soul.
Art without spirit is mere decoration.
The line leads the eye.
In art, the impossible becomes possible.
Life is a canvas of colors.
The artist must be a seer.
Harmony in art is inner peace.
My last wish is to paint the unspeakable.
That is beautiful which is produced by the inner need, which springs from the soul.
The true work of art is born from the 'inner necessity' of the artist in a mysterious and secret way.
Contemporaries of Wassily Kandinsky
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944).