"Paris with its wonderful (intense soft) light had relaxed my palette—there were other colors, other entirely new forms, and some that I had used years earlier. Naturally I did all this unconsciously."
(Vasily Kandinsky to Alfred Barr, Jr., July 16, 1944, quoted in Vivian Endicott Barnett, et al., Kandinsky, exh. cat. [New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2009], p. 70)

Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944). Dominant Curve (Courbe dominante), April 1936. Oil on canvas, 129.4 x 194.2 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection 45.989

In 1933 Kandinsky was forced to leave Germany due to political pressures; yet, despite the turmoil, his move to Paris ushered in a highly creative period. Freed from teaching and administrative responsibilities, he devoted himself entirely to his art. His late works are marked by a general lightening of his palette with the addition of pastel and acidic colors and the introduction of organic imagery. They also express the inventiveness, cheerfulness, and humor of an older artist working peacefully in his studio at home. Breaking away from the rigidity of Bauhaus geometry, he turned to softer, more malleable shapes that often display a whimsical, playful quality.

Although Cubism and Surrealism were fashionable in Paris, Kandinsky continued to paint abstractions and defend this style through his writings in art journals. He painted and drew prolifically, putting together an important body of work inspired by images from biology, creating forms that resembled embryos, larvae, and invertebrates, a world of minuscule living organisms.

Kandinsky’s use of biomorphic forms attests to his fascination with the organic sciences, particularly embryology, zoology, and botany. During his Bauhaus years, Kandinsky had clipped and saved illustrations of microscopic organisms, insects, and embryos. He also owned several important scientific books and encyclopedias, from which he derived abstracted depictions of minute creatures. For instance, in Dominant Curve (Courbe dominante, April 1936), a schematized pinktoned embryo floats in the upper-right corner, while the forms contained in the green rectangle in the upper left resemble tiny marine animals.

He combined these science-derived forms with primary geometric shapes, energetic lines, a lively pastel palette, and a set of steps leading nowhere, resulting in free-associative meanings for the viewer. These buoyant, biomorphic images can be read as signs of an optimistic vision of a peaceful future and hope for social rebirth and regeneration. The artist considered this painting to be one of his most important works of this time.

Through both his paintings and written theories on art and abstraction, Kandinsky continued to proclaim that abstraction could communicate spiritual ideas. Kandinsky died in Paris, in 1944 at age 78.

• Dominant Curve combines scientific, geometric, abstract, and figurative forms. Ask the class to find evidence of all four of these types.
• Ask students to describe the way that Kandinsky has used color in this work. Does it convey a particular mood, feeling, sensation, or sense of place? Do your students have any personal associations with this palette or combination of colors?
• After Kandinsky moved to Paris, he changed the colors in his paintings to lighter, more pastel hues. As a group, compare the colors used in Dominant Curve to earlier works pictured in this unit. Describe how Kandinsky’s palette changed over the decades.
• Kandinsky titled this work Dominant Curve. Discuss if this is an appropriate title for the work. Why or why not? Do students have alternative titles that they would suggest?

• Many people have a favorite color, but fewer have a favorite palette. Experiment with assembling a palette of five or six colors that work harmoniously together. The class can mix these colors from paints or use color samples from a local paint store. Do students have any associations with the palette they chose? Does the selection suggest a particular environment or emotion? Now try this exercise again, with them choosing a palette of colors that they dislike. Discuss which palette was easier to formulate and why.
  Visual Arts


• Kandinsky collected books on biology, zoology, embryology, and botany as well as specimens including a fish embryo, a salamander embryo, insects, marine invertebrates, jellyfish, and amoeba. In addition to his interest in their structures, it is believed that Kandinsky also saw spiritual meaning in these specimens as manifestations of regeneration and the common origin of all life. Use a biological specimen as the basis for a work of art. The motif can be as simple as a seed, pod, or leaf. In books, on the Internet, or using a microscope, the class can also look at cellular specimens. The Encyclopedia of Life Web site provides an excellent resource for this project.
  Visual Arts
  
  Math / Science


• Kandinsky’s long life spanned great social, political, and technological changes; two world wars; and several dislocations and relocations. Although he was largely apolitical, the major world events listed below had a direct impact on his life. Research the following events and their influence on world history:
  
  • 1914: World War I begins.
  • 1917: The Bolshevik Revolution occurs.
  • 1933: The Nazis close the Bauhaus.
  • 1940: The Germans begin occupying France.
  Social Studies