132. Improvisation 28 (second version). Vassily Kandinsky. 1912 CE Oil on canvas.

• Form
  • Strongly articulated use of black lines.
  • Colors seem to shade around line forms
• Content
  • Using schematic means, Kandinsky depicts cataclysmic events on the left and a sense of spiritual salvation on the right
• Context
  • Kandinsky wanted the viewer to respond to a painting the way one would to an abstract musical composition: a concerto, a sonata, a symphony
  • The artist felt that sound and color were linked; for example, it was possible to hear color
  • He used words such as ¨composition¨ and ¨improvisation¨ in the titles of his works, words associated with musical composition
  • Kandinsky's works have a relationship to atonal music, which was evolving at this time
  • Movement toward abstraction; representational objects suggested rather than depicted