Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) is regarded as the pioneer of abstract painting. Around 1910, about the same time that he was writing his most important theoretical work, Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1912), his own artistic work took a critical turn in its development toward abstraction. That same year saw the publication of the almanac Der Blaue Reiter, whose title makes reference to the independent Munich-based artists’ union to which Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, and Paul Klee belonged. Kandinsky wrote Concerning the Spiritual in Art with the aim of arousing the ability to experience the spiritual in material and abstract things.[1] His views were based on musical as well as visual experiences. Kandinsky formulated a deep affinity between art and music; he compared composing with colors with composing pieces of music. Such considerations led to a series of compositions for the stage, one of which was The Yellow Sound (1912).
[1] Wassily Kandinsky, „Der Blaue Reiter (Rückblick),“ 1930, in Essays über Kunst und Künstler, ed. Max Bill (Bern: Benteli, 1955), 137, trans. R. v. D.
