Black and purple, Kandinsky – overview of the painting 
- Posted by Vasily Vasilievich Kandinsky
- Museum: Private collection
- Year: 1923
Overview of the painting :
Black and purple – Vasily Vasilievich Kandinsky. 1923. Oil on canvas 77.8×100.4 cm
Like any work of Vasily Kandinsky, the “Black and Purple” canvas has many interpretations. In fact, the author was based on this idea – the perception of art is very subjective, and everyone himself must seek personal meanings.
The traditional interpretation relies on the characteristics of the colors and shapes that Kandinsky left in his theoretical works. Two color centers, protruding and semantic – black and purple, cut with straight lines of figures, are contrasts that symbolize tension and even struggle. This is the struggle of opposites, the struggle of darkness and light, the confrontation of life and death.
Another curious look is related to the theory of the author of the interpretation of sounds through graphic images, which he talks about in the chapter “Music” from the book “Point and lines on the plane”. Following his ideas about sound, critics present a composition in the form of an orchestra that tunes its tools. Sounds transform into colors and shapes, some of which dominate, others enjoy each other, and others contrast sharply. The viewer should feel these consonants and dissonances if not heard.
The painting was written at the end of a relatively quiet period in the life of the master – teaching Kandinsky in Bauhaus in Germany. Later, his art will be recognized as degenerative, and many works destroyed.