Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)

On 6 December 1904, during one of his many extensive travels through Europe between then and 1908, Kandinsky, accompanied by Gabriele Münter, departed on a steamer from Marseille to Tunis. They arrived at their destination on Christmas Day and remained until 5 April 1905. During this time, Kandinsky made numerous drawings in three sketchbooks and several “colored drawings” depicting the surrounding landscape, architecture and Tunisian genre scenes, such as the present work. Few of these colored drawings remain today.
Kandinsky’s abiding interest in the decorative components of color, rhythmical line and pattern are evident in the present work, particularly in his use of tinted cardboard as both painterly tool and medium. As Vivian Endicott Barnett notes, "The colored drawings...reflect Munich's Jugendstil environment as well as Art Nouveau tendencies in general, as can be seen in the stylization, the relative lack of perspectival depth, the tendency towards the decorative, an interest in applied and decorative arts and a heightened interest in folk art... Another characteristic of the colored drawings is the tendency to stylize the scenery. The figures are rendered as types and not as recognizable individuals. In the colored drawings Kandinsky did not attempt realistic portraiture of a naturalistic representation of landscape; it was the spiritual meaning of the representation which was important to him" (op. cit., p. 14).