Visionary Abstraction

As one winds their way up the curving ramps of the museum you see the evolution of Kandinsky the painter as he explores different modes of abstracting the world around him into two dimensions.   Kandinsky moves back and forth between quasi-surrealism – dark, moody hard edge abstraction – and optimistic works that capture the dynamic energy of the modern city.     

Kandinsky was one of the fathers of abstract painting.  He cast off the shackles of representation and played with form and color in order to induce an emotional effect in the viewer without regard to reality. But as the exhibit reveals, Kandinsky had strong surrealist tendencies, which express themselves to different degrees throughout his career.  Kandinsky is at this most powerful when he expresses himself in a private abstract language that only he can decipher. Kandinsky invites us to find our own meanings behind his forms.