Vassily Kandinsky: Brussels Revisited

By Brussels correspondent

Brussel shows the exhibition Kandinsky & Russia. From 8 March up to 30 June, you can come and admire more than 150 works of art at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Among these works of art: about fifty paintings of Vassily Kandinsky (Moscow 1866 - Neuilly-sur-Seine 1944), next to some popular art works and paintings of Larionov and Malévitch. Most of the works come from very renowned Russian museums such as the Russian Museum of Saint Petersburg.

After 100 years, Kandinsky returns to Belgium! In May 1913, he exhibited at the Georges Giroux Gallery, now gone but at the time a Brussels cultural hotspot. The paintings and works of art that can now be seen at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium take you back to the Russia of the 1901 – 1922 period: from symbolism to avant-garde. A truly wonderful journey …

The exhibition Kandinsky & Russia is subdivided in four separate parts with the following suggestive titles: «Experiencing the art of painting», «Listening to the art of painting», «Amidst nature» and «Kandinsky and mythology». It is the first time that this collection of 150 works is shown in Belgium. It shows the artistic and intellectual complexity of a true genius who drew inspiration at the same time from the Russian symbolist movement, Greek culture, German metaphysics, orthodox spirituality and esotericism.
Vassily Kandinsky is one of the most influential painters of the 20th century. As the founding father of abstract art, he evolves, travelling from Munich to Paris with stops in Moscow and Berlin, from expressionism to surrealism without ever renouncing his Russian roots. In 1911, he paints “Painting with circle”, the very first abstract work of art in history. With this painting, he mixes up the whole conception of art. This artist of Russian origin, who first becomes a naturalised German, then a Frenchman, is an extremely multifaceted genius. He leaves behind an impressive oeuvre: more than 2,500 paintings, gouaches and aquarelles, but also prints, poetry, stage plays, philosophical essays, theoretical writings, …

Kandinsky is a very cultivated man. He studies law and economics at the University of Moscow before, relatively late at the age of 30, commencing his painting studies. The Russian artist develops a very colourful art of painting combining myth and fairy tales, impressions and observations, literature and music.

Abstract art is greatly influenced by music. This form of art, abstract by nature, isn’t about showing the outside world as it is but merely wants to express in a direct manner the inner feelings of the human soul. By the way, Kandinsky uses himself musical terms to denominate his own works. He qualifies them as “improvisations” whenever they are spontaneous or as “compositions” whenever they are more elaborate. The exposition “Kandinsky & Russia” highlights the musicality of the art of painting, which will more and more take over the role of the pure object.

Anna van Densky