Houses at Murnau

The painting Houses at Murnau was created by Vasily Kandinsky (born Moscow, formerly Russian Empire, now Russia) in 1909. Executed in oil on cardboard, this important work exemplifies the artist’s pivotal transition from representative art toward pure abstraction. The choice of medium—oil applied to the rigid support of cardboard—suggests the rapid, experimental nature of his outdoor work during this period.

In 1908, Kandinsky settled in the Bavarian town of Murnau with fellow artist Gabriele Münter. The vibrant German landscape inspired him to simplify forms and intensify his palette, departing from earlier Symbolist approaches. The resulting Houses at Murnau retains the identifiable architecture and steep-pitched roofs of the local scenery, yet these objects are radically compressed into bold, planar masses. The colors are Expressionistic; saturated blues, oranges, and greens are applied with thick, broken brushstrokes that emphasize the materiality of the paint itself.

This piece belongs to the period immediately preceding the formation of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), positioning it centrally within the explosion of modernist activity in Germany. Kandinsky was actively exploring how color and line could evoke internal emotion, freeing the composition from traditional descriptive requirements. This freedom ultimately led to the non-objective canvases that defined his later career. As a landmark work of early 20th-century modernism, this painting is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, and high-quality prints and reference images are frequently utilized by scholars examining the origins of abstract art.