563 - Wassily Kandinsky (1866 Moscow – Neuilly-sur-Seine 1944)

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 Moscow – Neuilly-sur-Seine 1944) Mounted weight Oil and tempera on canvas. 1935. Approx. 60 x 72.5 cm. Monogrammed, dated, and numbered “No. 611” on the reverse of the canvas. Various handwritten inscriptions and a “KANDINSKY” stamp on the reverse of the canvas and stretcher. Roethel/Benjamin 1049. • An outstanding example of Kandinsky’s late work, full of dynamism and elegance • A captivating combination of organic, gentle forms and his established abstract formal vocabulary • Kandinsky’s works from this period represent the quintessence of his decades-long artistic development Following the permanent closure of the Bauhaus in 1933, Kandinsky left Germany and moved with his wife Nina to Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. Kandinsky, now nearly 70 years old, struggled to gain a foothold in France, where abstract art found little recognition in a Paris dominated by Cubism and Surrealism. Yet even during this final decade of his life in exile in Paris, and despite the challenging external circumstances, Kandinsky retained his joy in experimentation and the pursuit of innovation, continually exploring the complex layers of his art anew. He worked with tremendous creative drive, producing a body of late work characterized by great poetry and clarity. In the 1930s, Kandinsky took an interest in the emerging field of molecular biology, as evidenced by a collection of newspaper clippings on the subject that the artist kept. Another source of inspiration for his new formal aesthetic was likely Ernst Heinrich Haeckel’s book *Art Forms in Nature*, which contains over 100 illustrative plates and was first published in its complete edition in 1904. Many of the forms found in Kandinsky’s late work from the final decade of his life resemble the tiny micro-organisms and deep-sea organisms depicted there. The numerous and varied biomorphic forms now emerging in Kandinsky’s works represent a clear departure from the linear-geometric compositions of his Bauhaus years. The painting “Poids monté” was created in early 1935, and in it Kandinsky combines the two formal languages so characteristic of his work: the abstract-linear and the biomorphic. The shimmering silvery-gray linear elements, placed diagonally on the canvas, provide both space and stability for the deep-red organic form. The light background, shimmering in shades of gray, green, and blue, lends the entire composition a floating lightness. Kandinsky reinforces this desire for a light, floating expression with his choice of the title “Poids monté”—“Increased Weight.” Kandinsky’s painting titles have always been an important part of his works. He always chooses them in the language of the country where he paints them and enters them into his handwritten list upon completion. Almost all titles from his French period consist of two words—a noun followed by an adjective—though occasionally they consist of three words or even just one. Kandinsky’s titles are never whimsical, like those of the Surrealists, but rather plain, serious, and simple. At times, they are paradoxical titles that reveal his penchant for opposites and contradictions—such as incompatible emotions, contrasting colors, or antonyms—which he expresses through two words placed side by side. Yet the lively, poetic quality of these short titles is always rooted in the paintings themselves. Kandinsky may have found inspiration for the painting “Poids monté” in the countless small tidal pools along the Normandy coast, where he had spent his vacation just a few months earlier, in the summer of 1934. In a letter to the art historian Will Grohmann, he describes the tiny marine life forms in vivid detail: “(…) I have stored up many impressions and hope to work well. The tides here are particularly beautiful. At low tide, the ocean recedes by about 400–450 meters, and one can then walk on the seabed and see, in small puddles and in the wet sand, the life of these almost microscopic creatures. The clams burrow into the sand, and you stomp them out with your feet. The creatures inside are eaten alive here. I, too, opened up one of these pretty clams (Gôutez, M., c’est très bon!) and a long, soft, thin horn emerged menacingly. Yuck—yuck! The clams themselves are usually simple in form, but wonderful. Likewise, their color palette is limited, but the variations are magnificent. We’ve started a small collection. – That menacing horn seemed to say to me: ‘Don’t eat me—learn from me!’ Which is exactly what I’m doing.” (Letter dated August 28, 1934). Bibliography: Grohmann, Will, Wassily Kandinsky, Cologne 1958, p. 340, color ill. 442, p. 386; Kandinsky in Paris: 1934–1944, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 1985, p. 39, no illustration; Marcadé, Jean-Claude, Calder, Paris 1996, p. 93, no illustration. Exhibit