In his main theoretical work, On the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky compared the state of the awakening of the soul with a faint flickering point of life in an enormous circle of darkness. “This faint light is merely hope for the soul, and to see the soul still does not have enough courage; it doubts whether this light is there–it is a dream, and the circle of black around it is reality.” This image also finds its expression in the painting Black Spot.

Kandinsky Vasili

Kandinsky, Wassily (Vasily Vasilyevich)
1866, Moscow - 1944, Neuillysur-Seine (France)
Painter, graphic artist, book illustrator, writer on painting and poetry. Studied law and political economy at the Moscow University (1885-93). Studied art at Anton Aube's private studio (1896-97) and the Akademie Franz von Stuck in Munich (1900). One of the founders of the Phalanx group (1901), organised the Neue Kimst-lervereinigung in Munich (1909). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Jack of Diamonds (1910, 1912), Der blaue Reiter (1911-12) and Galerie Der Strum (1913). Worked for Department of An, People's Commissariat of Education (1918), headed the Museum of Painterly Culture in Moscow (1919-20). Emigrated to Germany (1921) and France (1933).