kandinsky retrospective guggenheim museum, new york september 18th, 2009 to january 13th, 2010

colorful life (montley life) (das bunte leben), 1907 tempera on canvas, 130 x 162.5 cm bayerische landesbank, on permanent loan to the städtische galerie im lenbachhaus, munich © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, paris courtesy guggenhemim

‘kandinsky’, a full-scale retrospective of vasily kandinsky’s paintings will be presented at the solomon r. guggenheim museum, new york this fall. this comprehensive survey is comprised of nearly 100 of the visionary artist, theorist, and the pioneer of abstraction’s most important canvases from 1907 to 1942. the pieces on show are drawn primarily from the three largest repositories of the artist’s work: the centre pompidou in paris, the solomon r. guggenheim foundation in new york, and the städtische galerie im lenbachhaus und kunstbau in munich, as well as from significant private and public collections. complemented by more than 60 works on paper from the collections of the guggenheim and hilla von rebay foundations, this retrospective traces the painter’s oeuvre, focusing on the key events that informed his life and work as an artist. marked by two world wars and the russian revolutions, kandinsky’s abstraction did not develop in detachment or isolation. ‘kandinsky’, the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s career in the united states since the three surveys mounted by the guggenheim museum in the 1980’s, reveals the complex background to his aesthetic innovations.

kandinsky retrospective at the guggenheim museum, new yorkblue mountatin (der blaue berg), 1908-09 oil on canvas, 106 x 96.6 cm solomon r. guggenheim founding collection, by gift © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, paris courtesy guggenhemim

kandinsky retrospective at the guggenheim museum, new yorkimprovisation 21a, 1991 oil and tempera on canvas, 96 x 105 cm städtische galerie im lenbachhaus, munich, gabriele münter-stiftung, 1957 © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, paris courtesy guggenhemim

kandinsky retrospective at the guggenheim museum, new yorkblack lines (schwarze linien), december 1913 oil on canvas, 129.4 x 131.1 cm solomon r. guggenheim founding collection, by gift © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, paris courtesy guggenhemim

kandinsky retrospective at the guggenheim museum, new york moscow i (mockba i), 1916 oil on canvas, 51.5 x 49.5 cm the state tretyakov gallery, moscow © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, paris courtesy guggenhemim

kandinsky retrospective at the guggenheim museum, new york red spot II (krasnoe pyatno II), 1920 oil on canvas, 137 x 181 cm städtische galerie im lenbachhaus, munich © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, paris courtesy guggenhemim

kandinsky retrospective at the guggenheim museum, new yorkyellow-red-blue (gelb-rot-blau), march-may 1925 oil on canvas, 128 x 201.5 cm musée national d’art moderne, centre pompidou, paris, gift of nina kandinsky, 1976 © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, paris courtesy guggenhemim

kandinsky retrospective at the guggenheim museum, new york sky blue (bleu de ciel), march 1940 oil on canvas, 100 x 73 cm musée national d’art moderne, centre pompidou, paris, gift of nina kandinsky, 1976 © artist rights society (ARS), new york/ADAGP, Paris courtesy guggenhemim