Wassily Kandinsky, father of lyrical abstraction
In 1910, Kandinsky was absorbed in the writing of his theoretical work on art, entitled "Concerning the Spiritual in Art", which was published the following year. It refers to the inner necessity of the artist and the pure and absolute creation of the mind when freed from the demands of all representation or from the distracting business of depicting recognisable objects. He considers the means which are particular to painting, especially isolated colour and its vibration on the soul.
He took the writings of Goethe, Worringer and Steiner and scientific studies on optics, quantum physics and the Theory of Relativity as inspiration, to highlight the need for abstract art. As a great lover of music, he also identified with the same free expression of emotion experienced by musicians. 1910 goes down in history as the year when Kandinsky painted his first abstract work, but in fact this watercolour was completed around 1913. Nevertheless, Kandinsky remains a forerunner among painters such as Kupka, Mondrian or Malevitch, who began the abstract art movement.