Wassily Kandinsky > Quotes

“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.”
― Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art

“Those [things] that we encounter for the first time immediately have a spiritual effect upon us. A child, for whom every object is new, experiences the world in this way: it sees light, is attracted by it, wants to grasp it, burns its finger in the process, and thus learns fear and respect for the flame. ”
― Wassily Kandinsky

“The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul.”
― Wassily Kandinsky

“… lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and … stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to “walk about” into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?”
― Wassily Kandinsky

“Empty canvas. In appearance - really empty, silent, indifferent. Stunned, almost. In effect - full of tensions, with thousand subdued voices, heavy with expectations. A little frightened because it may be violated”
― Wassily Kandinsky, Kandinsky: Complete Writings On Art

“There is only one road to follow, that of analysis of the basic elements in order to arrive ultimately at an adequate graphic expression.”
― Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art

“The artist must be blind to distinction between 'recognized' or 'unrecognized' conventions of form, deaf to the transitory teaching and demands of his particular age.”
― Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art

“The true work of art is born from the 'artist': a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being.”
― Wassily Kandinsky

“Everything that is dead quivers. Not only the things of poetry, stars, moon, wood, flowers, but even a white trouser button glittering out of a puddle in the street... Everything has a secret soul, which is silent more often than it speaks.”
― Wassily Kandinsky