Study for Improvisation V
On View In:
Gallery 371
Artist:   Vassily Kandinsky  
Title:   Study for Improvisation V  
Date:   1910  
Medium:   Oil on pulp board  
Dimensions:   27 5/8 x 27 1/2 in. (70.2 x 69.9 cm)  
Credit Line:   Gift of Bruce B. Dayton  
Location:   Gallery 371  

This landscape evokes Biblical stories of the Apocalypse, which foretold Christ's second coming. In the foreground, a woman in blue kneels before a tall figure with streaming golden hair, possibly Christ, while in the background two horsemen of the Apocalypse vault a fence. As a pioneer of abstract painting, Vassily Kandinsky thought art could make inner truths visible. An "improvisation," he said, was "a largely unconscious, spontaneous expression of inner character," or "non-material (i.e., spiritual) nature." Kandinsky wanted painting to function like music, using colors and forms like melodies and rhythms—abstractly—to summon emotion. Frame: Gift of Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany.

Artist/Creator(s)     
Name:   Kandinsky, Vassily  
Nationality:   Russian  
Life Dates:   Russian, 1866-1944  
 

Object Description  
  
Inscriptions:   Signature LL in black: [Kandinsky] Nothing on verso; painting has been separated from another section of cardboard.  
Classification:   Paintings  
Creation Place:   Europe, Russia, , ,  
Accession #:   67.34.2  
Owner:   The Minneapolis Institute of Arts