Two Riders Before Red (Zwei Reiter vor Rot) (plate, folio 4) from Klänge (Sounds)

Two Riders Before Red (Zwei Reiter vor Rot) (plate, folio 4) from Klänge (Sounds) is a seminal graphic work created by Vasily Kandinsky in 1913. This striking example of early modernist graphic arts is a woodcut, one of fifty-six included in the illustrated book Klänge (Sounds), a pivotal project where Kandinsky sought to merge visual expression with musical and poetic rhythm. The rigorous use of the woodcut medium allowed the artist to distill forms to their essential, energetic contours, pushing the boundaries between representation and pure abstraction typical of the avant-garde movements dominating the European cultural landscape in this period.

Within the dynamic visual narrative of Two Riders Before Red, Kandinsky employs sharp contrast and simplified, almost primal shapes. The two mounted figures are starkly silhouetted against a powerful, dominant field of red, suggesting a dramatic, almost spiritual confrontation or journey. While the artist is strongly associated with German Expressionism and the founding of Der Blaue Reiter group, the publication of Klänge resonated deeply within the broader European modernists, including influential circles within the French cultural sphere where new concepts of color theory were being vigorously debated. Kandinsky’s commitment in this period (1913) was to free color and line from naturalistic constraints, allowing them to communicate directly with the viewer’s emotions, echoing his contemporaneous theories on the spiritual in art.

This specific plate represents a crucial step in Kandinsky’s transition toward fully non-objective painting, where form and color carry emotional weight independent of narrative realism. The graphic intensity achieved through the woodcut technique made this image highly reproducible, ensuring the wide circulation of the revolutionary ideas presented in Klänge. This important piece of book art is preserved in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, where it serves as a cornerstone example of early twentieth-century prints. For researchers and enthusiasts studying this era of modernism, high-quality images of this seminal work are often available through institutional archives, sometimes entering the public domain depending on regional copyright laws.