Drawing for ‘Bild auf hellem Grund’ 1916

This is a drawing by Wassily Kandinsky, and the title tells us it’s a study for a painting. It looks like it was made with black ink on paper. I love the way Kandinsky approaches mark making here; it's like he’s feeling his way through the shapes. Notice the contrast between the dark, dense areas and the delicate, spidery lines. The texture is amazing. You can almost feel the scratch of the pen on the paper. There is a section towards the bottom of the drawing where short curved lines build up into a swirling mass. It’s a small detail, but for me it seems to capture the energy of the whole piece. Looking at this drawing, I’m reminded of Joan Miró, another artist who explored abstraction in his own unique way. Like Miró, Kandinsky invites us to see the world through a different lens, to embrace ambiguity and to find beauty in the unexpected.