Wassily Kandinsky

Nina Kandinsky, Paris (the artist's wife)
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan (acquired by 1951)
Private Collection, Italy
Thomas Ammann, Zurich
Galerie Thomas, Munich
Acquired from the above 

Paris, Galerie René Drouin, Kandinsky, gouaches, aquarelles, dessins, 1947, no. 35
Liège, Association pour le progrés intellectuel et artistique de la Wallonie, Kandinsky: Gouaches & dessins, 1947, no. 34
London, Gimpel Fils, Kandinsky, 1950, no. 26
Rome, Galleria Obelisco, Wassily Kandinsky, 1951, no. 17

Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky. Life and Work, New York, 1958, no. 411, illustrated p. 746
Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, ed., "Centenaire de Kandinsky" in XXe Siècle, December 1966, illustrated p. 99
Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Watercolors, 1922-44, vol. II, Ithaca, 1994, no. 1259, illustrated p. 461

Executed on black wove paper, laid down on board, and floating in the overmount. There is a tiny accretion below the figure's horizontal blue arm and some extremely minor craquelure to some of the thicker white pigments in places. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition and the colors are bright and fresh.
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The fantastic coloring of In der Höhe, exaggerated by the retrospective black background, is strongly representative of Wassily Kandinsky’s mature Parisian oeuvre. Kandinsky’s entire production centered on the myriad effects produced by color and form, as explained in his own words: "Imagine a triangle, for instance. Does it seem to move? Where to? Does it move more cheerfully than a square? Is the sensation of a triangle like that of a lemon? What is most like the song of a canary, a triangle or a circle? What geometric forms correspond to philistinism, to talent etc...? What colour is most like the song of a canary? Which of these is most like the mooing of a cow: the whispering of the wind, a whip, a man, talent, a storm, rejection, etc.? Can you express your feelings about science, life, etc., through colours?" (quoted in Vivian Endicott Barnett & Armin Zweite, eds., Kandinsky, Watercolors and Drawings, Munich, 1992, p. 24).

In these later years, Kandinsky worked far more on paper than canvas. The present example demonstrates how these were conceived as fully finished masterpieces that bear all the hall marks of his idiosyncratic and irreplacable style, with pastel hues and floating forms creating a sensation in the viewer particular to Kandinsky. The ability to skillfully handle graphic media was fundamental to Kandinsky’s conception of the artist, writing in 1931 in the Journal des Poètes: "to be able to devote oneself to it [art], one should be a good draughtsman, have a great sensibility for composition and colours and, most importantly, be a true poet" (quoted in Jean-Louis Prat, Wassily Kandinsky: Retrospective, Paris, 2001, p. 126).

After a failed attempt at reviving the Bauhaus in Berlin following the closure of Dessau in August 1932 by the National Socialists, Kandinsky made the decision to move with his wife to Paris in 1934 where they settled in Neuilly-sur-Seine and, without the constraints of teaching, he was immensely productive. The decision to move was the right one, with many of Kandinsky’s paintings included in the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition that toured Nazi Germany. While in Paris he was loosely associated with the Surrealist and Abstraction-Création groups, with whom he shared an affinity for biomorphic and abstract shapes. Through In der Höhe one can read many of the elements that best defined his oeuvre, a connection underscored by previous ownership by Nina, the artist’s wife.