Reclining Couple (Liegendes Paar) (headpiece, page 16) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art)

Reclining Couple (Liegendes Paar) (headpiece, page 16) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) is a pivotal early work by Vasily Kandinsky, created in 1911. This image is one of eleven powerful woodcuts that Kandinsky designed to illustrate and complement his foundational theoretical text on non-objective art. The resulting publication, literally titled Concerning the Spiritual in Art, laid the theoretical and aesthetic groundwork for abstract expressionism across Europe.

The work employs the stark simplicity inherent in the woodcut medium. This technique forces a reduction of form to essential lines and high-contrast dark masses, reflecting Kandinsky’s belief that pure formal elements held intrinsic emotional resonance. In the Reclining Couple, the figures are abstracted almost entirely, utilizing heavy black shapes that define form through their very absence, emphasizing the non-material or "spiritual" nature of the subject rather than descriptive reality.

Produced at a critical juncture in the European avant-garde, this piece is cataloged within the French cultural context, reflecting the importance of Parisian publishing houses and movements in disseminating Kandinsky’s revolutionary ideas beyond Germany and Russia. The prints provided visual proof that the concepts detailed in the treatise-the psychic power of line, the inner necessity-could be realized through non-representational means.

As an illustrated book, this collection of 1911 prints provides essential insight into the moment Kandinsky fully committed to abstraction. The entire illustrated book resides in the Museum of Modern Art collection, serving as a vital reference point for the history of 20th-century modernism.