Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily was a Russian painter and art theorist, who is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in western art, after Hilma af Klint. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art School, before enrolling into university to study law and economics.

Kandinsky’s creation of abstract work followed a long period of development and maturation of intense thought based on his artistic experiences. He believed that geometric forms, lines and colours could express the inner life of the artist. A theory quite evident in his own explosive paintings, which were often inspired by music.

Today, Kandinsky’s canvasses sell for tens of millions at auction and belong in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Tate, among other prestigious institutions.