On the Spiritual in Art

The theoretical works of Vasily Kandinsky, like his own creativity, are a unique phenomenon in the history of Russian and European art. After all, it was he, a Russian artist living in Germany and one of the leaders of new art, who was destined to make a true revolution in painting. The idea of non-objectivity was in the air, but it was in Kandinsky's work that it found its embodiment. 'Twilight was approaching. I... suddenly saw before me an indescribably beautiful painting, soaked in inner fire... it was my own painting, leaning against the wall and standing on its side' — this is how Kandinsky himself describes the moment of illumination that predetermined the subsequent triumphant march of abstract art. The collection includes the artist's programmatic work 'On the Spiritual in Art', as well as critical reviews, articles on pedagogy and the theory of painting, and theses of reports published in various years in Russian.