Kandinsky at the Guggenheim

The Guggenheim Museum's 50th anniversary is this fall, and they decided to launch a Vasily Kandinsky retrospective to celebrate. The exhibition consists of over 90 paintings and works on paper, including one of his most famous canvases, Composition No. 8 (the blog is cutting the canvas in half, my apologies:



I was lucky enough to attend opening night, and it was amazing to see so many of his works together. The exhibition was laid out chronologically, which may be a bit boring for the curators but makes an impact upon viewing. It is easy to see how his style progressed as he was influenced by events during the 20th century. You see his canvases start as realist/impressionist which in turn become very abstract, and once he reached influence by the Russians after World War II, his geometric style was realized. Later in his life, the canvases take on a an almost biomorphic feel as he was influenced much more by nature and science. Interestingly, his style drifts smaller as the years go on, and with more detail, which is sometimes the opposite for artists as their eyesight starts to go.

The exhibition is wonderful and encourage as many people to attend as possible.