Improvisation

Improvisation by Vasily Kandinsky is a crucial transitional work from 1914, executed in watercolor and pencil on paper. Classified as a drawing, this piece exemplifies the artist’s full embrace of non-representational form during a highly fertile period of European Modernism.

The composition showcases Kandinsky’s dynamic approach to pure abstraction. Unlike his earlier, denser works in oil, this piece relies heavily on the transparency and lightness of watercolor washes combined with sharp, linear interjections made by pencil. The technique highlights the immediate and intuitive quality of mark-making crucial to the designation of this work as an "Improvisation." Kandinsky utilized clashing color fields and energetic, kinetic lines to evoke an emotional or spiritual response, prioritizing internal necessity over the depiction of recognizable external objects.

Although Kandinsky was Russian, this phase of intense abstraction developed within the cosmopolitan milieu of early 20th-century French culture and the European avant-garde c. 1914. The artwork’s title reinforces Kandinsky’s association of abstract painting with musical structure, suggesting spontaneous creation akin to free musical expression. This period marks the culmination of his theoretical writing on abstraction and color theory, influencing subsequent generations of abstract artists.

The significance of this pivotal moment in the history of abstract art is recognized through the work’s inclusion in the renowned collection of the Museum of Modern Art. As seminal works such as this drawing eventually enter the public domain, they become widely accessible, ensuring that high-quality prints of Kandinsky's revolutionary compositions circulate globally for study and appreciation, cementing his legacy as a founder of abstract expressionism.