Upward
Artwork by Vassily Kandinsky • 1929
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About this artwork - painting analysis
Created in 1929, Upward by Wassily Kandinsky demonstrates the culmination of his research into geometric abstraction conducted during his teaching at the Bauhaus. This oil on cardboard, preserved in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, perfectly illustrates the synthesis between constructivist rigor and chromatic lyricism that characterizes the Russian artist's production in the late 1920s.
The composition is organized around a set of geometric forms carefully articulated against a nuanced turquoise background. A large circle divided into quarters – orange, white-blue, pink and beige – dominates the upper portion, evoking an upward movement confirmed by the title. Rectangular and triangular elements structure the lower part, while horizontal bars and stylized letters – the repeated "E" – punctuate the pictorial space. A small black circle animates the light zone, creating a secondary focal point. The pastel colors and orange tones contrast harmoniously with the aquatic background, generating an ambiguous spatial depth typical of Kandinsky's work. The visible texture, slightly grainy, recalls the materiality of the support and the methodical application of paint.
Kandinsky develops here a refined formal language, a direct heir to the Bauhaus teaching where he has been teaching since 1922. This period marks his progressive move away from the organic compositions of his Munich period in favor of rigorous geometric abstraction, influenced by Russian constructivism and Malevich's suprematism. Elementary forms – circle, square, triangle – become vectors of a new spirituality, where each color and each figure possess their own emotional resonance.
Upward is part of this quest for a universal art founded on correspondences between forms, colors and music. Acquired by Peggy Guggenheim, an essential patron of the avant-garde, this work testifies to Kandinsky's lasting influence on twentieth-century abstraction, permanently transforming the perception of pictorial space into purely spiritual and emotional territory.
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Image license: faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain work of art.
