Skip to main content
Questions & Answers
Our trusted network of 1stDibs sellers answer common questions

How many paintings did Kandinsky paint?

1 Answer
How many paintings did Kandinsky paint?
No one knows for sure how many paintings Kandinsky painted over the course of his life. Art historians estimate that he produced at least 500 oil paintings. However, there may be considerably more works that are forever lost. Because the Nazis labeled Kandinsky a degenerate, it is possible that a great number of his pieces were destroyed during the 1930s and ’40s. On 1stDibs, explore a range of Wassily Kandinsky art.
1stDibs ExpertAugust 8, 2024
Shop for Wassily Kandinsky Art on 1stDibs
"Stars" original lithograph
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1938 and published in Paris by Teriade for the art revue Verve (volume 1, number 2). Kandinsky was invited to contribute an original compositi...
Category

1930s Expressionist Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Wassily Kandinsky, Komposition, from XXe siecle, 1939
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite woodcut by Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), titled Komposition (Composition), from the album XXe siecle, Chroniques du jour, 13 rue Valette (5e), Directeur G. di San Laz...
Category

1930s Modern Abstract Prints

Materials

Woodcut

Wassily Kandinsky, Two Riders Against Red, from XXe siecle, 1938
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite woodcut by Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), titled Zwei Reiter vor Rot (Two Riders Against Red), from the album XXe siecle, Chroniques du jour, 13 rue Valette (5e), Dire...
Category

1930s Modern Abstract Prints

Materials

Woodcut

"Schwartzer Fleck" original woodcut
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original woodcut. Catalogue reference Roethel 145. Printed in Paris in 1938 for the art revue XXe Siecle (issue number 3). Image size: 7 x 8 1/2 inches (170 x 218 mm). Sheet ...
Category

1930s Expressionist Figurative Prints

Materials

Woodcut

Etching 1916 Number II
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in New York, NY
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching 1916 Number II, drypoint, signed in pencil lower right, titled, numbered (No. 9) and dated lower left [also with initials and date in the plate lower right]. Reference: Roethel 154, only state, edition of 10. In excellent condition (the barest handling fold at sheet edge), printed on a heavy ivory wove paper, the full sheet with full margins, 4 7/8 x 3 1/4, the sheet 17 1/2 x 13 inches, archival mount with window mat. A fine fresh impression of this great rarity, printed in a dark brown ink. Kandinsky created this drypoint (erroneously named Etching 1916) in early 1916 while staying with Gabriel Munter in Stockholm during the winter of 1915-16. This is from the second series of drypoints he made; the first was in the year 1913-14. Provenance: Kornfeld Auction, Bern, June 2007. The tiny size of this edition (10) makes this print a great rarity within the Kandinsky’s printed...
Category

1910s Abstract Abstract Prints

Materials

Drypoint

'Improvisation 7' second ed. woodcut from 'Klänge' by Wassily Kandinsky
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in Milwaukee, WI
'Improvisation 7' second ed. woodcut from 'Klänge' is a woodcut print created by Wassily Kandinsky. The present woodcut print comes from the second edition of 'Klänge (Sounds),' a book of original graphics and poetry by Wassily Kandinsky. The title of the album and of this print, 'Improvisation,' demonstrated Kandinsky's interest in music and how abstract musical forms could be translated into images on a two-dimensional surface. This particular composition is difficult to read, but through the abstraction, one can make out various figures and a landscape beyond. Originally carved and printed in 1911, this second edition print was done ca. 1938. It is a woodcut in black ink on woven paper. Signed with encircled 'K' in the block, lower right (from the book, signed in ink, ed. 117/300) Image Size: 7 1/2" x 5 inches Frame Size: 22 1/4" x 18 3/4" Ref. Roethel 124 Artist Bio: The Museum of Modern Art described 'Klänge (Sounds)' as follows: Vasily Kandinsky's self-described "musical album," Klänge (Sounds), consists of thirty-eight prose-poems he wrote between 1909 and 1911 and fifty-six woodcuts he began in 1907. In the woodcuts Kandinsky veiled his subject matter, creating increasingly indecipherable images (though the horse and rider, his symbol for overcoming objective representation, runs through as a leitmotif). This process proved crucial for the development of abstraction in his art. Kandinsky said his choice of media sprang from an "inner necessity" for expression: the woodcuts were not merely illustrative, nor were the poems purely verbal descriptions. Kandinsky sought a synthesis of the arts, in which meaning was created through the interaction of, and space between, text and image, sound and meaning, mark and blank space. The experimental typography shows his interest in the physical aspects of the book. Klänge is one of three major publications by Kandinsky that appeared shortly before World War I, alongside Über die Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) and the Blaue Reiter almanac...
Category

1910s Blue Rider Abstract Prints

Materials

Woodcut, Laid Paper

Shop All