"In [my picture] Colorful Life, where the task that charmed me most was that of creating a confusion of masses, patches, lines, I used a 'bird's eye view' to place the figures one above the other."
(Vasily Kandinsky, “Cologne Lecture” (1914), in Vasily Kandinsky, Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art, ed. Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo [1982; repr., New York: Da Capo Press, 1994], p. 395)

Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944). Colorful Life (Motley Life) (Das bunte Leben), 1907. Tempera on canvas, 130 x 162.5 cm. Bayerische Landesbank, on permanent loan to the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

In the first years of the 20th century, Kandinsky gradually defined his artistic focus. After a year as a student at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, Kandinsky looked for a more experimental environment and formed the progressive artists’ association in Munich known as Phalanx. Here he met the young German painter Gabriele Münter (1877–1962), who would become his companion. He enriched his experiences with almost constant travel, taking extended trips through Austria, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and Tunisia.

Beginning in 1905, Kandinsky became involved with the most revolutionary practitioners and styles in the Parisian art world, finding inspiration in the expressive qualities of Post-Impressionism and the jarring and luminous colors of the Fauves. He saw paintings by French artists Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) and Henri Matisse (1869–1954) as well as Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). Their dramatic use of color had an impact on Kandinsky, and gradually the color in his paintings became more brilliant.

In these initial years of artistic orientation, Kandinsky borrowed many motifs from myths and legends, including references to medieval Russia, folklore, and nostalgic images of his homeland. Creating these fantastic pictorial worlds allowed him to deal with colors and forms more freely and break away from naturalistic rendering.

In Colorful Life (Motley Life) (Das bunte Leben, 1907), Kandinsky positions the viewer slightly above the action, gliding over a multifigure panorama of humanity from a freely imagined time in ancient Russian history, composed of dazzling colored spots against a dark background. Pleasant moments contrast with more somber events. The figures, such as the rider, the loving couple, and the rower on the peaceful river in the background, as well as the Kremlin with its colorful towers and domes on the massive hill all appear again in later pictures. More than once in his writings, Kandinsky refers to this painting as crucial to his artistic development.

• This painting's title, Colorful Life, suggests that Kandinsky was interested in showing us not only a canvas filled with colors, but also one including a heterogeneous, often incongruous mixture of activities and events, worldly and spiritual, past and present. Ask students how many elements they can identify and have them create a list of all the things they notice.
• Kandinsky places the viewer slightly above the action, like a hovering bird or insect. Encourage students to imagine that they could fly into and across the expanse of this painting. Which areas would they like to explore more fully? What about those areas intrigues them?
• In this work Kandinsky combined lighthearted moments with more somber events. Ask students the following questions: Can you find examples of both in this painting? How would you describe the overall mood of this work?
• Kandinsky confides that his main challenge in this painting was to depict "a confusion of masses, patches, [and] lines." How has the use of a bird's-eye view helped him do this? Do your students think he successfully accomplished his task?

• In Colorful Life, Kandinsky combines numerous objects and occurrences into a single work. We see people eating, laughing, and praying; a mother and child; a Russian Orthodox priest; a group of elders; an archer aiming at a squirrel; a knight in medieval armor on horseback; a bearded old man; a musician; someone in a rowboat; and a man running after a woman. By using aerial perspective, overlapping images, and his imagination, Kandinsky unified this mass of activities. As part of his drawing classes, artist and teacher Robert Kaupelis assigned his students a similar task. [3] The project was to create a drawing that includes an astounding number of elements and still appears cohesive.
  
  A typical list might include the following:
  

  3 mountains 1 sidewalk 1 hill 1 car 1 forest 1 road 4 trees (all different) 1 fire hydrant 1 house 1 dog 1 adult 1 bush 3 telephone poles and wires     1 bike

  1 open window 1 path 1 clothesline 1 cat 2 children 1 mosquito 2 birds 1 worm 1 satellite dish 3 clouds 1 airplane 1 small crowd of people 1 flower garden 1 fence

  
  
  Ask students to try this challenging exercise and share the drawings that result. (Adapted from Robert Kaupelis, Experimental Drawing [New York: Watson-Guptill Publications; London: Pitman House, 1980], p. 54)
  Social Studies


• Art historians have asked, “How is one to explain Kandinsky’s fondness for dark or even black backgrounds?” (Jelena Hahl-Koch, Kandinsky [New York: Rizzoli, 1993],  p. 92). In order to consider how the background can affect a work’s impact, students can use Sharpie markers to create a color design on a piece of clear acetate. When the drawing is complete, they will place a white piece of paper under the design and then a black piece of paper. Encourage them to describe how the same work is transformed as the background changes from light to dark.
  English / Language Arts


• Throughout his career Kandinsky worked in various mediums, including woodcuts; drawings; tempera, oil, and watercolor paintings; and Bavarian glass painting, a folk technique that Kandinsky admired for its direct, expressive qualities and the luminosity of color that could be achieved by painting on glass. On the Internet, the class can research these mediums and create works that explore at least one of them.
  English / Language Arts