Wassily Kandinsky · Der blaue Reiter

Kandinsky is one of the most original and important artists of the 20th century Art, traditionally considered as the creator of abstract art. However, his first works -like this one- are tremendously interesting for being a link between postimpressionism and expressionism. In fact, Kandinsky always felt a great admiration for Claude Monet’s works. Contemplating one of his haystacks in an exhibition in Moscow, Kandinsky commented: “And suddenly, for the first time, I saw a picture. I read in the catalogue that it was a haystack, but I could not recognize it (…) I realized that there the object of the picture was missed (…) What I had perfectly present was the unsuspected -and until then hidden- power of the palette…”

“The blue rider” is, in addition to an extraordinary work thanks to its simple but masterful light and colour (and, of course, thanks to the simplicity with which the painter creates a contrast between the movement of the rider and the static landscape in the foreground) the name of an editorial that grouped some of the most important expressionist painters, such as Franz Marc or Kandinsky. “The blue rider” was neither a movement nor a school. It was just a group of different artists, displeased with the later evolution of the “Die Bruke” (the Bridge) movement. “The Blue Rider… The die is cast”, Franz Marc wrote. This movement came to an end when World War I dispersed its protagonists.

Text: G. Fernández, theartwolf.com