"It is only over the years that I have learned to exercise patience in such moments and not smash the picture over my knee. Thus, it was not until after nearly five months that . . . it suddenly dawned on me what was missing—the white edge. . . . Since the white edge proved the solution to the picture, I named the whole picture after it."
(Kandinsky, “Reminiscences,” p. 391)

Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944). Painting with White Border (Moscow) (Bild mit weißem Rand [Moskau] ), May 1913. Oil on canvas, 140.3 x 200.3 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift 37.245

In 1896, just as he was embarking on his career as an artist, Kandinsky attended a performance of Lohengrin (1850), an opera by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883), at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. While listening to the music, he began to see colors and images. This experience influenced Kandinsky’s theories on the relationship between music and painting, by which he equated the sounds of the orchestra’s instruments with colors in the artist’s palette.

Another milestone occurred in 1910 when he accidentally discovered nonrepresentational art. As he returned home at sunset, he entered his studio and was struck by an “indescribably beautiful picture, pervaded by an inner glow” (Hahl-Koch, Kandinsky, p. 159). He could distinguish forms and colors only and no meaning. He soon realized that it was one of his paintings turned on its side. Soon after he began working on paintings that came to be considered the first totally abstract works in modern art.

By 1913 Kandinsky’s aesthetic theories and aspirations were well developed. He had mastered the abstract style of expression and honed his technical skills. By carefully choosing colors, shapes, and lines, he sought to elicit specific emotional responses from viewers. He believed that the inner vision of an artist could be translated into universal visual statements. Kandinsky realized that in order to foster public acceptance, he would need to develop his style slowly. Critics panned several of his early exhibitions, and even some fellow artists frowned on his more abstract works. Therefore, in most of his work from this period, he retained fragments of recognizable imagery. Painting with White Border (Moscow) (Bild mit weißem Rand [Moskau], May 1913), for instance, was Kandinsky’s response to “those . . . extremely powerful impressions [he] had experienced in Moscow—or more correctly, of Moscow itself.” (Kandinsky, “Reminiscences,” p. 389) To illustrate the city’s spirit, he included an extremely abbreviated image of a troika driven by a trio of horses (the three diagonal black lines in the upper-left portion of the canvas).

Over the course of just a few years, Kandinsky had transformed his work from small-scale interpretations of nature to large invented and expressive personal statements, but this creative period that began in 1908 ended abruptly in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I.

• What do your students notice about this painting? Ask them to describe the forms, colors, and lines.
• Kandinsky believed that colors, shapes, and lines could convey the artist's inner vision to the viewer. This work was created in response to a visit to Moscow. What do your students surmise about his experience of the city from looking closely at his painting?
• The years 1908–14 are viewed as Kandinsky’s most creative. Compare Blue Mountain with Painting with White Border (Moscow). How has his approach changed? Can your students also see similarities? Are there clues contained in Blue Mountain that suggest how his work would evolve over the next several years?
• We know from Kandinsky's writings that, for him, the three curved shapes in the upper-left portion of this painting represent a troika, a Russian carriage, wagon, or sleigh drawn by a team of three horses abreast. Compare a photo of a troika to Kandinsky's forms. What similarities do students see?

• Kandinsky wrote about the process of completing this painting. From these writings we know that he imbedded personal symbols in this work. “I made the first design immediately after my return from Moscow in December 1912. . . . In the upper left remained the troika motif (troika = three-horse sled. This is what I call the three lines, curved at the top, which, with different variations, run parallel to one another. The lines of the backs of the three horses in a Russian troika led me to adopt this form), which I had long since harbored within me.” (Ibid.) Although the viewer might see these forms as pure abstraction, to Kandinsky they held meaning and memory. Have students select an object that has personal meaning for them and then reduce that object to its most abstract essence. Discuss which aspects of the objects they retained in their symbols and why they consider them essential.
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• Kandinsky worked on Painting with White Border (Moscow) from December 1912 until May 1913. At least 16 drawings, watercolors, and oil sketches preceded the final canvas. The artist wrote about how, after months of work, the resolution suddenly occurred to him. The sudden recognition of how to solve a long-standing problem is sometimes called an “aha moment.” Ask students if they have ever had such an experience. Let them describe the moment(s) and the issues that they solved.
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• Kandinsky is believed to have experienced synesthesia, a condition in which sounds are perceived, not only audibly, but also with the visualization of colors. He developed elaborate theories about how colors could evoke emotions as well as conjure the sounds of musical instruments. For instance, Kandinsky believed that the color red would elicit strength, energy, and joy. He also equated red with the sound of a trumpet. Your class can learn more about Kandinsky’s theories on colors, emotions, and sounds at the Arnold Schönberg Center Web site and then complete the table below, adding personal associations with various colors.
  
  
  (Adapted from the Arnold Schönberg Center Web site)
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