Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of Wassily Kandinsky by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter who is generally credited with creating the first purely abstract art (in Western art) in 1910.  

His geometric abstractions were inspired by music, colour symbolism and psychology, and a deep need to express his inner emotional/spiritual world (nowdays known as abstract expressionism).

From Artchive, "His "inner necessity" to express his emotional perceptions led to the development of an abstract style of painting that was based on the non-representational properties of color and form. Kandinsky's compositions were the culmination of his efforts to create a "pure painting" that would provide the same emotional power as a musical composition."

I have no interest in Kandinsky's work before he moved to abstracts. And there are some varieties of his abstracts that I really don't like, as in this Composition VII shown above, even though it is considered to be one of his masterpieces. So, so hideously busy, ugh. It still has his trademark visual balance though.

The works I prefer explore carefully balanced lines and shapes and colour, with plenty of space to breathe around them, a plain or sparse background. 

They are busy but uncluttered. They look both simple and complex. There are many small marks within big spaces. 

 There is a flow of line and colour. 

There is a sense of innocence or childlikeness. A feeling of musicality. A playfullness. I think this quality is important to me. It's also what I enjoy in the work of cartoonists.

 

They are precise, yet flow and balance, just so. He seems to have quite a command over his lines. They walk the tightrope of precision and freedom.

I remember seeing his work when I was in primary school. It had a huge impact on me. You could say it spoke to me. In adult language, it was the compositional balance that really hit me. I am still enthralled by his ability in this area. His art is just shapes and marks in colour and they are always so lopsided, quirky and visually perfectly balanced.

More links to Wassily Kandinsky

http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky

The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. 

The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.