Wassily
KANDINSKY

Illnesses helped me to get rid of everything shallow. When I was a child I once had a high fever, during which I had some visions. And later I had a few more. With a developed imagination I managed to recreate my spiritual landscapes in detail. *

For many years… I was like a monkey caught in a net. And only with great effort was I able to topple the wall separating me from art.

I still remember how I stepped into a peasant’s house for the first time and instantly stopped, overcome by the unexpected picture. The table, the benches, the large oven, every article was painted with simply coloured and large ornaments. Folk art on all the walls; a hero, representing a symbol, a battle, a painted folk song. The "red" corner was ("red" is ancient Russian and means the same as "beautiful") completely packed with painted and printed pictures of saints; Once I had entered the house, I discovered that I had become a part of the painting.

Each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated. Efforts to revive the art-principles of the past will at best produce art that is stillborn. It is impossible for us to live and feel as the ancient Greeks did.

The artist seeks material reward for displaying his dexterity, power of vision and experience. His purpose becomes the satisfaction of vanity and greed. In place of the steady cooperation of artists there is instead a scramble for riches. He complains of excessive competition, of over-production. Hatred, partisanship, cliques, jealousy and intrigues are the natural consequences of this aimless, materialistic art.

Painting is…a language that speaks to the soul, in the proper form, of things that comprise the daily bread of the soul, and is the only form capable of reaching it.

A work of art emerges from its artist, just as it has been with music for several centuries. In this sense, painting has caught up with music.

Moscow represents duality, complexity and a high level of mobility; the collision and confusion of separate elements of appearance…I consider the whole of outer and inner Moscow to be the source of my artistic pursuits. It is the tuning fork for my art.

* The information is based on the accounts of the personas featuring in this section as well as accounts of their family members, acquaintances and colleagues