Kandinsky. Into the Unknown

Especially through graphics, Kandinsky experimented with form, color and lines, which was the start of the development towards the abstract expression for which he became known.
The works in the exhibition have not been shown in Norway before and provide a unique opportunity to explore a new side of Kandinsky’s art.

In 1896, Kandinsky saw Claude Monet’s painting “High Stacks” at an exhibition of French Impressionists in Moscow. In the same year, he attended Richard Wagner’s opera “Lohengrin”. These two events left a deep mark on him, and contributed to Kandinsky’s decision at the age of 30 to travel to Munich to become an artist.
 
In Munich, he worked a lot with graphics, especially with the printing techniques of woodcuts, woodcuts and linocuts. These media lent themselves to the simplification of surface, form and line, and this process of exploration led to a gradually more symbol-laden and abstract idiom. You can experience several of the works from this period in the exhibition.