The Beauty of Nothing: A Personal Experiment on Wassily Kandinsky's Color Theory and Search Toward Pure Abstraction

Date

2019

Authors

Tavenner, Bethany

Access rights

Worldwide access

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

The work of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky produced at the start of the 20th century has long been regarded as the turning point in the history of artistic abstraction. He took known principles and dissected them into purity, in the process giving rise to spiritual doctrines that still guide perception today. These principles were put into practice by my own work that aimed to demonstrate and experience similar relationships between visual and auditory artistic modalities. This paper argues that Kandinsky's work as an abstract artist reached new success because of his innate synesthetic point of view, which allowed him to see the inner spiritual overlap between color and form. This relationship is manifested through my personal process of mirroring his techniques, although drastically different conclusions are reached.

Description

Keywords

Wassily Kandinsky. Color theory. Creative painting.

Citation