Kandinsky’s hocus-pocus

Mario Naves | The New Criterion | 26th August 2024

What an odd bod Kandinsky was! Enthralled by Theosophy’s mysticism, he was advocating for abstract art as its “highest calling” as early as 1910. His views brought “fervour”  to his art but also detracted from its rigour with “arrays of wiry lines, random puffs of color, and pinched, convulsive rhythms.” Ultimately, “Kandinsky’s iconic abstractions scrabble for a uniformity that’s never forthcoming … outside of their historical context [his] paintings lose power.”