Wassily Kandinsky

Rudolf Probst, Mannheim (acquired by 1949)
Private Collection, Germany
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above in 1971)
Galleria De' Foscherari, Bologna
Sale: Finarte, Milan, March 15, 1973, lot 54
Private Collection, Europe
Sale: Finarte, Milan, June 22, 1999, lot 147
Private Collection, Europe (acquired at the above sale and sold: Christie's, London, February 5, 2008, lot 550) 
Acquired at the above sale

Berlin, Galerie Ferdinand Möller; Saarbrücken, Staatliches Museum, Sonder-Ausstellung W. Kandinsky: Zeichnungen 1910-1931, Neue Aquarelle, Grafik, 1932, no. 69
Stockholm, Gummesons Konsthall, Kandinsky, 1932, no. 39

Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky Watercolours, Catalogue Raisonné, 1922-1944, vol. II, Ithaca, 1994, no. 1036, illustrated p. 308

Executed on cream wove paper laid down on card. Edges of sheet are deckled and all unevenness appears original to the sheet. The unpainted area of the sheet at the center appears slightly time-darkened. All colors are very well preserved and bright and fresh. There is a faint 1 cm mat stain visible along the bottom and side edges of the sheet, but this is extremely minor. Overall the work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Championing the autonomy of color, Wassily Kandinsky believed that all arts were capable of attaining an equal level of spirituality, achieving thus a synthesis of universal content.  An exploration of the effects of color and form, Dunkle Seiten fully performs Kandinsky's joyous song of abstract geometries and symbolic hues. In a famous musical analogy, Kandinsky wrote:  "Color is the keyboard. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano, with its many strings...The artist is the hand that purposefully sets the soul vibrating by means of this or that key" (W. Kandinsky, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," 1911, reprinted in C. Harrison & P. Wood, Art In Theory, 1900-1990, Oxford, 1992, p. 94).

Executed in 1931, Kandinsky composed the present work in his last years at Dessau, where he taught at Walter Gropius's Bauhaus school between 1925 and 1933. The Bauhaus had relocated from Weimar in 1925, and Kandinsky found the living and working conditions extremely favorable. New buildings were constructed for workshops and faculty residences, and Kandinsky found himself sharing a duplex house with Paul Klee that overlooked the park.

Kandinsky's years at Dessau were some of his most productive. As explained by Will Grohmann, "During the last years in Dessau, from 1929 to 1932, Kandinsky constantly gained in assurance and lightness of touch. A joy of living is perceptibly felt in his work. In certain paintings there is even a kind of philosophical humor...[T]here are dozens of paintings of these years that cannot be grouped, because each expresses a distinct conception...He painted pictures in which a single color determines the character of the work, and nebulous pictures in which we look in vain for a dominant color. The works of the Dessau years are characterized by incomparable richness..." (Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Life and Work, New York, 1958, pp. 210 & 217).

The present work, an effusive experiment in what Kandinsky termed the "sentimentality" of the color blue, shows both structural clarity and spiritual whimsy. Composed at the pinnacle of the artist's great career, its deeply mysterious geometries beckon the viewer away from the concrete world and into a realm of fluid symbolic associations.