Wassily KANDINSKY - Dix Origin, 1974 - Woodcut in black and white on wove paper.

Vassily Kandinsky : Russian painter, engraver and art theorist, founder of Abstraction, Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866. In 1895 he decides to dedicate himself to art after law studies at Moscow University. He then went to Munich to learn painting, and created The Phalanx association with other artists. In this way, he met his first partner, the artist Gabriele Münter. With her, he traveled through Europe, North Africa and settled in Paris in 1906 during one year. At this time, his works are small paintings, often landscapes in an impressionist style, like a travel logbook. His true arstistic carreer began from his return to Germany in 1908. His favorite themes (landscapes, popular culture) are still the same but painted in a more and more abstract way thanks to the increasing autonomy of colors. In 1914, WWI leads him to quit Munich to take refuge in Switzerland, then in Moscow until 1921. During this period, he didn't painted much, prefering for material questions drawings and works on paper. In 1921, he setlles in Germany with his last wife Nina. Walter Gropius, Bauhaus leader, affres him a teaching job that he took until 1933. Deprived of his german nationality obtained in 1927, Kandinsky settles in Paris, stateless. In 1939 he became french citizen. Until 1944, Kandinsky and his wife led retired lives in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the artist following his last researchs.