Wassily Kandinsky (16 December 1866 - 13 December 1944)

Wassily Kandinsky is credited with painting one of the first recognised purely abstract works. He was born in Moscow. His parents saw him in the future as a lawyer. In 1893 he became Associate Professor of Law Faculty (Moscow University). A thirty-year-old Kandinsky was appointed Professor to the Department of Law (Derpt University), but at this particular time he decided to give up a successful career to devote himself completely to painting.

Wassily Kandinsky

every work of art is the child of its age
and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions
it follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own
which can never be repeated
efforts to revive the art-principles of the past
will at best produce an art that is still-born