Analysis of The Themes Presented in Wassily Kandinsky’s Composition Vii

In the early 1900s, chaos erupted across the globe as talk of a large-scale war spread. Artists were introduced to the post-impressionism art movement, where they broke away from realism and subject-matter. Post-impressionists began to completely shift the artistic style of the time as they focused on depicting emotion and communicating their inner thoughts. No piece of artwork conveyed these ideas better than Wassily Kandinsky’s 1913 Composition VII.

Composition VII is part of a series of compositions created over a span of several years; it is one of the artist’s final paintings he created before the start of the Bauhaus movement in the late 1910s. The abstract oil painting is located at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia and its dimensions are 79 x 119 inches. The piece appears to be a random integration of organic shapes, lines, and colors at first glance. Upon further investigation, one will find that the artist spent a considerable amount of time sketching preliminary designs before constructing the final arrangement in the span of three days. The large-scale nature of the abstract painting combined with its visual complexity prompts the viewer to become overwhelmed with graphic stimulation. The viewer tends to follow the obvious diagonal alignment of the composition leading the eye from the bottom left through to the top right section of the piece. According to Ulrike Becks-Malorny, a sense of balance is created within the painting, due to the contrast of chaotic forms and hues in the upper half of the format compared to a more relaxed combination in the lower half.

In Kandinsky’s 1977 book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, the artist spends a considerable amount of time discussing his spiritual and psychological connection to form and color. He stresses that in order to feed the soul, the world must turn away from materialism and art imitating nature. As stated by Michael T. H. Sadler, Kandinsky’s translator, the social duty of an artist is to be an educator of the human spirit and to guide the public to an ultimate understanding of the artist’s actions. In terms of what he believed should guide an artist, Kandinsky stated that an ‘internal necessity’ should be the deciding factor. In other words, Wassily considered his inner voice the most important enforcer with regard to creating artistic works. Although the expressionist rejected formalist ideas, Kandinsky believed that the value of a painting is measured by what is known as the formal elements in art; these elements include shape, line, color, form, pattern, composition, tone, and texture. In spite of the fact that the artist contradicted himself, he believed that the word ‘form’ essentially described the manifestation of the artist’s inner self.

One may think that Kandinsky’s Composition VII has no substance because it is entirely abstracted, but in reality, there happens to be a lot of meaning behind the work. Along with several other artists of the time, Kandinsky was inspired by the constant threat of a global war, which ultimately took place a year after the painting’s completion. When compared to Kandinsky’s later pieces made in the 1920s, one can see that his style dramatically changed from creating disordered, muddy compositions to more light-hearted, organized compositions. The artist himself recounted that Composition VII was the most imperative piece he created before the start of World War I. The amount of tension and turmoil he portrayed from real-life events of the time is overwhelmingly evident. Religious scenes were widely reintroduced during the post-impressionistic period. It is said that when creating Composition VII, Kandinsky was also loosely inspired by The Deluge, or the story of Noah’s ark and the flood. Kandinsky first took inspiration from the narrative when creating Composition VI, and some of his ideas along with other themes from the new testament transferred over into the creating process of Composition VII during the same year. As stated by Becks-Malorny, the focal point of the piece is an oval outlined in black, placed near the center of the painting. Kandinsky had a tendency to depict several reoccurring motifs throughout his paintings, many being outlined in black to stand out against colorful backgrounds. Some that can be made out in Composition VII are a rowboat in the bottom left corner, a traveler on the right border, and a troika, or set of three, in the top left corner.

The artist’s use of color is greatly the most obvious aspect of the piece. Because he experienced synesthesia, a neurological condition that affects the perception and relation of one sense to another, Kandinsky distinguished color as more of a feeling rather than perceiving it for its physical characteristics. According to Sadler, the artist specifically focused on portraying every one of his works as symphonic pieces. He wanted to depict color as though it were leaping off of the page and into the ear of the viewer, giving them an indescribable pleasure, much like the effect of music. Even the title of Kandinsky’s piece, Composition VII, is a play on words; it combines his fascination with integrating music and color, as well as the actual structure of the artwork. According to Peter Selz, the artist considered blue to be a supernal pigment, comparing light blue to a flute and dark blue to a cello. Yellow was said to represent the sound of a brass horn and green represented a violin. White and black weren’t compared to musical instruments but rather specific words; white represented a new beginning and black represented an ominous end.

To summarize, Kandinsky’s Composition VII is exceedingly more complex than what is depicted within its borders. The artist managed to convey his ideas about the relationship between art and the soul in a way that allows each viewer to make a personal association with the painting. On the surface, one will see a colorful, non-objective painting, but underneath the piece is a deep emotional connection to the human experience.