From Representation to Non-Objective Art: Spiritual Language in Kandinsky's Composition Series

Abstract

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was an early figure in non-objective art in the early 20th century who believed that painting should convey spiritual and emotional connotations rather than represent external objects. This paper studies the development of his philosophy of abstraction and how he attempted to convey spiritual ideas in terms of pure form and colour. In the Composition series (1910–1913), it is proposed that these works show how abstraction became a spiritual language and that Kandinsky believed painting could move away from the material world to create a multi-sensory experience inspired by music. Based on his own theoretical writings and other representative art-historical research, this study first lays a theoretical and biographical foundation for Kandinsky's years in Munich, his study of Theosophy, and his participation in the Blue Rider circle. Then, in order, it studies the Composition series and traces the development of his work from partially figurative paintings with apocalyptic and religious symbolism to fully non-objective abstraction in Composition VII. In the context of other modern art, Kandinsky systematically broke down representation and thus altered the aim of painting to explore profound, spiritual worlds; this became a new mode for apprehending reality in art.