Volga song 1906

Wassily Kandinsky made this painting, Volga Song, with oil on canvas. I can imagine Kandinsky standing before the canvas, brush in hand, and stepping into a world of color and feeling. I imagine he built up the image bit by bit, like a mosaic of lived experience, of memories and feelings. You can see his brushstrokes, thick with intention. Brown, black, and red suggest the depth of the river, its currents and secrets. The artist must have loved the river, the Volga, to translate it so poetically onto the canvas. It reminds me of other artists who’ve translated the world around them into deeply felt, personal languages. I wonder if, like me, he sometimes felt lost in the making of it, guided by intuition, and the push-and-pull of his materials. It’s a reminder that artists are in a perpetual conversation across time, riffing off one another’s ideas, and pushing the boundaries of expression.