Editing Wassily Kandinsky (section)

=== Blue Rider Period (1911–1914) ===
{{See also|Der Blaue Reiter}}
[[File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1910, Landscape with Factory Chimney, oil on canvas, 66.2 x 82 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|thumb|Wassily Kandinsky, 1910, ''Landscape with Factory Chimney'', oil on canvas, {{cvt|66.2|x|82|cm}}, [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]]]]

Kandinsky's paintings from this period are large, expressive coloured masses evaluated independently from forms and lines; these serve no longer to delimit them, but overlap freely to form paintings of extraordinary force. Music was important to the birth of abstract art since it is abstract by nature; it does not try to represent the exterior world, but expresses the inner feelings of the soul in an immediate way. Kandinsky sometimes used musical terms to identify his works; he called his most spontaneous paintings "improvisations" and described more elaborate works as "compositions."

In addition to painting, Kandinsky was an art theorist; his influence on the history of [[Western art]] stems perhaps more from his theoretical works than from his paintings. He helped found the [[Neue Künstlervereinigung München]] (Munich New Artists' Association), becoming its president in 1909. However, the group could not integrate the radical approach of Kandinsky (and others) with conventional artistic concepts and the group dissolved in late 1911. Kandinsky then formed a new group, ''The Blue Rider'' (''[[Der Blaue Reiter]]'') with like-minded artists such as [[August Macke]], [[Franz Marc]], [[Albert Bloch]], and [[Gabriele Münter]]. The group released an almanac (''The Blue Rider Almanac'') and held two exhibits. More of each were planned, but the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914 ended these plans and sent Kandinsky back to Russia via Switzerland and Sweden.

[[File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1912 - Improvisation 27, Garden of Love II.jpg|thumb|''Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II)'', 1912, oil on canvas, {{cvt|120.3|x|140.3|cm}}, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York. Exhibited at the 1913 [[Armory Show]]]]

His writing in ''The Blue Rider Almanac'' and the treatise "On the Spiritual in Art" (which was released in 1910) were both a defence and promotion of abstract art and an affirmation that all forms of art were equally capable of reaching a level of spirituality. He believed that colour could be used in a painting as something autonomous, apart from the visual description of an object or other form.

These ideas had an almost-immediate international impact, particularly in the English-speaking world.<ref>See Michael Paraskos, "English Expressionism," MRes Thesis, University of Leeds, Leeds 1997, p103f</ref> As early as 1912, ''On the Spiritual in Art'' was reviewed by [[Michael Sadleir]] in the London-based ''Art News.''<ref>Michael Sadleir, Review of Uber da Geistige an der Kunst by Wassily Kandinsky, in "The Art News," 9 March 1912, p. 45.</ref> Interest in Kandinsky grew quickly when Sadleir published an English translation of ''On the Spiritual in Art'' in 1914. Extracts from the book were published that year in [[Percy Wyndham Lewis]]'s periodical ''[[BLAST (magazine)|Blast]],'' and [[Alfred Orage]]'s weekly cultural newspaper ''[[The New Age]]''. Kandinsky had received some notice earlier in Britain, however; in 1910, he participated in the Allied Artists' Exhibition (organised by [[Frank Rutter]]) at London's [[Royal Albert Hall]]. This resulted in his work being singled out for praise in a review of that show by the artist [[Spencer Frederick Gore]] in ''The Art News''.<ref>Spencer Frederick Gore, "The Allied Artists' Exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall (London)", in "The Art News," 4 August 1910, p. 254.</ref>

Sadleir's interest in Kandinsky also led to Kandinsky's first works entering a British art collection; Sadleir's father, [[Michael Sadler (educationist)|Michael Sadler]], acquired several wood-prints and the abstract painting ''Fragment for Composition VII'' in 1913 following a visit by father and son to meet Kandinsky in Munich that year. These works were displayed in [[Leeds]], either in the university or the premises of the [[Leeds Arts Club]], between 1913 and 1923.<ref>Tom Steele, "Alfred Orage and the Leeds Arts Club 1893–1923" (Mitcham, Orage Press, 2009) 218f</ref>

<gallery>
File:Untitled (First Abstract Watercolor) by Wassily Kandinsky.jpg|Untitled ''First Abstract Watercolor'', 1910–1913, [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris<ref>[https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cMejBMj First Abstract Watercolor], [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris</ref>
File:Kandinsky - Die Kuh PA291123.jpg|''The Cow'', 1910, [[Lenbachhaus]], Munich
File:Kandinsky Study for Improvisation V MIA 67342.jpg|''Study for Improvisation V'', 1910
File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1911, Reiter (Lyrishes), oil on canvas, 94 x 130 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.jpg|''Lyrical'', 1911
File:Vassilly Kandinsky, 1912 - Landscape With Two Poplars.jpg|''Landscape With Two Poplars'', 1912
File:Vassily kandinsky, con l'arco nero, 1912.JPG|''Mit Dem Schwarzen Bogen'', 1912, [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris<ref>[https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/artworks?filters=query%3AAM%201976-852 Mit Dem Schwarzen Boden], [[Centre Pompidou]], Paris</ref>
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Landscape With Red Spots.jpg|''[[Landscape with Red Spots (Kandinsky)|Landscape with Red Spots, No 2]]'', 1913
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles.jpg|''Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles'', 1913
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Composition 6.jpg|[[Composition VI|''Composition 6'']], 1913
File:W. Kandinsky - Bild mit rotem Fleck.jpg|''Painting with a Red Stain'', 1914
</gallery>