Museums

Germany

Cologne, Museum Ludwig (2)
The museum in the heart of Cologne is named after Peter Ludwig, a major representative of the post-war German confectionery industry, and a devoted collector of paintings. In 1976, he and his wife, Irene, donated to the city of Cologne 350 works of modern and contemporary art, including works by Surrealists, Expressionists, Pop artists, Picasso, and the Russian avant-garde. The donation significantly enriched the available collection and became the core of the museum. In later years, other cities such as Vienna, Budapest, Beijing, and St. Petersburg bestowed invaluable masterworks upon institutions in invaluable masterpieces from the Ludwigs’ collection. Museums bearing the Ludwig name opened around the world, so that the name of the German confectionery magnate cementing the German industrialist's legacy in the history of global art collecting.


White line, 1920


Quiet Pink, 1924
Dusseldorf. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (4)


In Blue, 1925


Composition X, 1939


Composition IV, 1911


Transverse Line, 1923
Dusseldorf. Museum Kunstpalast (1)


Quiet Harmony, 1924
Essen, Museum Folkwang (2)


Mighty Red, 1928


Landscape with church, 1913
Hamburg, Kunsthalle Hamburg (1)


Arabs (Cemetery), 1909
Kochel. The Franz Marc Museum (2)


Untitled, 1916


Rapallo - boat in the sea, 1906
Munich, Lenbachhaus (105)
The Lenbachhaus was originally a villa belonging to the eminent German portrait painter Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904). Constructed in the late 19th century, the property was sold to the city of Munich by the artist’s widow following his death, and subsequently transformed into a public gallery. The institution’s trajectory changed dramatically in 1957, when Gabriele Münter bestowed a monumental gift of nearly one thousand works associated with The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) movement upon the gallery. This historic donation included 90 oil paintings and over 300 drawings, watercolors, and sketches by Kandinsky. During World War II, Münter had courageously concealed this artistic treasure in the basement of her house in Murnau — a perilous undertaking given the National Socialist regime's systematic persecution of avant-garde art. Through her precious bequest, the Lenbachhaus was instantly elevated to a museum of world-class significance.


Cemetery And Vicarage In Kochel, 1909


Munich-Schwabing With The Church Of St. Ursula, 1908


The Singer, 1903


Couple Riding, 1906


Beach Baskets In Holland, 1904


Colorful Life, 1907


Poster for the First "Phalanx" Exhibition, 1901


Gabriele Munter Painting, 1903


Gabriele Munter, 1905


Interior (My Dining Room), 1909


Murnau View With Railway And Castle, 1909


Grungasse In Murnau, 1909


Glass Painting with the Sun (Small Pleasures), 1910


Cover design for The Blue Rider Almanac, 1911


Improvisation 6 (African), 1909


A Mountain, 1909


Murnau with a Church, 1910


Romantic landscape, 1911


Improvisation 19, 1910


Improvisation 26 (Rowing), 1912


Improvisation. Deluge, 1913


Improvisation. Dreamy., 1913


Improvisation. Gorge, 1914


Small Worlds III, 1922


Small Worlds VI, 1922


Small Worlds VII, 1922


Small Worlds X, 1922


Small Worlds XI, 1922


Red Spot II, 1921


The Isar near Grosshessolohe, 1901


Autumn Study near Oberau, 1908


Riegsee. The Village Church, 1908


Encounter, 1908


Figures and a Child in a Landscape, 1909


Oriental, 1909


Bedroom in Aintmillerstrasse, 1909


Murnau. Garden, 1910


Improvisation 12 (Rider), 1910


Improvisation 21a, 1911


Impression III (Concert), 1911


All Saints Day l, 1911


Nude, 1911


All Saints l, 1911


Hound of Hell and Bird of Paradise, 1911


Rider of the Apocalypse, 1911


Angel of the Last Judgment, 1911


Lady in Moscow, 1912


Double spread from Kandinsky's book "Sounds", 1913


Double spread from Kandinsky's book "Sounds", 1913


Double spread from Kandinsky's book "Sounds", 1913


In the Forest, 1904


Bride. Russian Beauty, 1903


Murnau Street With Women, 1908


Mountain landscape with church, 1910


All Saints Day II, 1911


The Cow, 1910


Murnau with Rainbow, 1909


The Golden Sail, 1903


Color Study. Squares with Concentric Circles, 1913


Moonrise, 1903


Poster, 1898


The Comet, 1900


Achtyrka - Dunkler Lake, 1901


Munich - English Garden, 1901


Akhtyrka - Autumn, 1901


Bei Starnberg - Winter, 1902


Russian Knight, 1902


Schwabing - Nikolaiplatz, 1902


Walled City in Autumn Landscape, 1902


Street Corner, 1903


Forest Landscape with Red Figure, 1902


Kochel - Anja and Daisy, 1902


Kochel - Lady Seated by a Lakeside, 1902


Kochel - Lady Standing by the Forest's Edge, 1902


Kochel - Lake with Boat, 1902


Kochel - Landscape with Manor, 1902


Kochel - Schlehdorf, 1902


Kochel - Waterfall II, 1902


Mountain Landscape with Lake, 1902


Sailboat at Sea, 1902


Mounted Warrior (unfinished), 1903


View from the Window of the Griesbrau, 1908


Dusk, 1901


The Wedding Procession, 1904


Saint Gabriel, 1911


Saint George II, 1911


Saint George vs Dragon, 1911


Sketch for "The Blue Rider" Almanac, 1911


Sketch for "The Blue Rider" Almanac, 1911


Sketch for "Composition II", 1910


Grand Resurrection, 1911


Saint Vladimir, 1911


In the park of Saint-Cloud, 1904


Impression IV (Gendarme), 1911


Impression VI (Sunday), 1911


Improvisation 18 (with grave stone), 1911


Improvisation 19A, 1911


Composition with Saints, 1911


Murnau – Castle and Church, 1909


Murnau with Rainbow, 1909


Last Supper, 1909 - 1910


Gabriele Munter Painting I, 1903


Color Study with Lozenges, 1913


Untitled Improvisation, 1914


Winter Study with Mountain, 1908
Münster, LWL Museum of Art and Culture (1)


Cross, 1926
Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (2)


Improvisation 9, 1910


Hommage to Grohmann, 1926
Wuppertal, Von der Heydt Museum (1)


Houses in Munich, 1908

United States

Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago (12)


Improvisation 30 (Cannons), 1913


Kallmünz, 1904


Painting with Troika, 1911


The Green Line, 1938


Untitled, 1922


Untitled, 1916


Untitled (Composition with Grey Background), 1941


Landscape with Two Poplars, 1912


Painting with Green Center, 1913


Gray Spots, 1934


Carnival in Munich, 1904


Composition, 1940
Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (1)


Rose with Gray, 1924
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (8)


Sign, 1925


Untitled, 1915


Yellow Border, 1930


Three Free Circles, 1923


Semicircle, 1927


Melodious, 1924


Untitled Improvisation III, 1914


The Mirror, 1907
Minneapolis. Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) (2)


Nymphenburg, 1904


On the beach, 1903
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center (1)


Calm Bend, 1924
New York, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (19)


Picture with Archer, 1909


Wall Panel No. 1, 1914


Wall Panel № 2, 1914


Wall Panel No. 3, 1914


Wall Panel No. 4, 1914


Watercolor (Number 13), 1913


Untitled, 1915


Untitled, 1915


Horseman, 1916


Improvisation, 1914


Plate IV from the portfolio Kleine Welten, 1922


Orange, 1923


Black Relationship, 1924


Lightly Touching, 1931


Round Poetry, 1933


Blue, 1927


Soft Pressure, 1931


White–Soft and Hard, 1932


Wall Panel No. 3, 1914
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (51)
In 1928, the industrialist and art collector Solomon R. Guggenheim met Hilla von Rebay, a German artist who had immigrated to the United States a year prior.  An abstract painter herself and a passionate advocate for non-objective art, Rebay became Guggenheim’s primary art adviser, guiding the expansion of his collection. In 1930, Guggenheim and his wife, Irene, accompanied by Rebay, traveled to Europe to meet avant-garde artists and acquire abstract paintings. Their historic July 1930 meeting with Kandinsky, who was then teaching at the Bauhaus in Dessau, resulted in the purchase of Composition No. 8. This seminal acquisition laid the foundation for a spectacular repository of over 150 works by the artist now housed in the museum.

Initially, the growing collection was displayed in a suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York, where Guggenheim rented several apartments during the 1930s.In 1939, he established the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, appointing Rebay as its founding director and ideological leader. By 1943, the decision was made to construct a dedicated building—conceived as a "temple of the spirit" to provide a revolutionary space for viewing art. he project was commissioned to the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright, a pioneer of organic architecture. After sixteen years of overcoming complex zoning laws and structural challenges in Manhattan, the museum's iconic spiral structure opened to the public, fundamentally transforming both the urban landscape and the discourse of modern art. Sadly, neither Wright nor Guggenheim lived to see its completion.

Today, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum stands as a cornerstone of New York’s cultural map, welcoming approximately one million visitors annually to its world-renowned exhibitions.


Sketch for "Composition II", 1910


Painting With White Border, 1913


Small Pleasures, 1913


Black Lines I, 1913


Red Oval, 1920


Storeys, 1929


Several Circles, 1926


Composition VIII, 1923


Graceful Ascent, 1934


Dominant Curve, 1936


Around the Circle, 1940


Untitled, 1941


Group in Crinolines, 1909


Improvisation 28 (second version), 1912


In the Black Square, 1923


Various Actions, 1941


Taut Line, 1931


Blue Mountain, 1908 - 1909


Landscape near Murnau with a Locomotive, 1909


Light Picture, 1913


Picture with White Form, 1913


Landscape with Rain, 1913


Accompanied Contrast, 1935


Decisive Pink, 1932


Gloomy Situation, 1933


Violet-Orange, 1935


Twilight, 1943


White Figure, 1943


Blue Segment, 1921


Landscape with Factory Chimney, 1910


Blue Circle, 1922


Three Sounds, 1926


A Center, 1924


Circles on Black, 1921


Moderation, 1940


Colored Sticks, 1928


Santa Francisca, 1911


Aglow, 1928


Far Away, 1930


Striped, 1934


Yellow Painting, 1938


Little Accents, 1940


Vertical Accents, 1942


White Center, 1921


Fragments, 1943


Ribbon with Squares, 1944


Yellow Accompaniment, 1924


Blue Painting, 1924


Green Accent, 1935


Lion Hunt, 1911


Amsterdam—View from the Window, 1904
Pasadena, California, Norton Simon Museum (7)


Blue, 1922


Heavy Circles, 1927


From Cool Depths, 1928


Unequal, 1932


Open Green, 1923


Small Worlds II, 1922


Violet, 1923
Philadelphia. Philadelphia Museum of Art (5)


Circles in a Circle, 1923


Improvisation #29 (The Swan), 1912


Isolated Objects, 1934


Little Painting with Yellow, 1914


Geometrical Forms, 1928
Portland, Maine, Portland Museum of Art (1)


Strong, 1929
San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1)


Brownish, 1931
Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art (2)


Divided, 1928


Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle), 1913
Washington, DC, The Phillips Collection (2)


Succession, 1935


Autumn II, 1912

France

Nantes, Nantes Museum of Art (9)


Soft Roughness, 1933


Compensation Rose, 1933


Fragile, 1931


Circulation Slowed, 1931


Three Rectangles, 1930


Green Emptyness, 1930


Eight Times, 1929


Downwards, 1929


Mild Process, 1928
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou (56)
This landmark cultural center was opened in January 1977, largely due to the dedicated efforts of the President Georges Pompidou. The monumental high-tech building brought several existing institutions under one roof, becoming a driving force for modern art and an essential destination for anyone visiting Paris. Today, the Centre Pompidou welcomes over six million visitors annually, standing as one of the capital's most popular cultural destinations alongside the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

The museum’s collection houses one of the three largest repositories of Kandinsky's work in the world—together with the Lenbachhaus Museum  in Munich and the Guggenheim Museum in New York —encompassing more than 100 paintings and 500 graphic works of Kandinsky.  Among its crown jewels are celebrated masterworks such as the First Abstract Watercolor (1913), Yellow-Red-Blue (1925), Composition IX (1936) and Sky Blue (1940).

Only two works were acquired during the artist's lifetime, in 1937 and 1939.  In 1976, the painter’s widow, Nina Kandinsky  presented a foundational gift of 15 paintings and 15 watercolors to the newly established museum. Then, in 1980, several works from the artist's studio in Neuilly were transferred to the museum according to the will. The collection was further enriched in 1994 by an acceptance-in-lieu (dation) agreement from the prominent art dealer Karl Flinker. This extensive artistic heritage is preserved with the guidance of the Kandinsky Society, which was established by Nina Kandinsky in 1979.

Furthermore, the Centre Pompidou houses the Bibliothèque Kandinsky, a premier documentary research center specializing in the literature, recordings, and archives of 20th- and 21st-century art: books, magazines, archives, photographs and audio-visual aids.


Old town II, 1902


Picture with a Black Arch, 1912


Untitled (First Abstract Watercolor), 1913


In Grey, 1919


Draft for Mural In The Jury-Free Art Show ("Juryfreie Kunstschau"), Wall B, 1922


Yellow-Red-Blue, 1925


Sky Blue, 1940


Composition IX, 1936


Two Green Points, 1935


Complex-Simple, 1939


Colourful Ensemble, 1938


Tempered Elan, 1944


A Russian Scene, 1904


Volga Song, 1906


Murnau. Landscape with a Tower, 1908


To the Unknown Voice, 1916


Improvisation 14, 1910


Last Watercolour, 1944


On White II, 1923


Accent on Rose, 1926


Thirty, 1937


Reciprocal Accords, 1942


Autumn in Bavaria, 1908


Arab city, 1905


Painting on Light Ground, 1916


Picture II, Gnomus, 1928


Picture IV The Old Castle (Das alte Schloss), 1928


Picture VII. Bydlo, 1928


Picture X. Samuel Goldenberg, 1928


Picture XII. The Market at Limoges (Limoges. Le march?. La grande nouvelle), 1928


Picture XIII. Catacombae. Sepulcrum romanum, 1928


Picture XV. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Hutte der Baba-Jaga), 1928


Improvisation 3, 1909


Composition, 1944


Conglomerat, 1943


Intime Message, 1942


White Line, 1936


Surfaces Meeting, 1934


On the Points, 1928


Crossing, 1928


Dark Freshness, 1927


Development, 1926


Poplars, 1902


Towards the Blue, 1939


Leichtes, 1930


Development in Brown, 1933


Promenade, 1902


Twilight, 1903


Les Corbeaux (Crows), 1907


Two Young Girls, 1903


Summer, 1904


The Farewell, 1903


L'Eventail (The Fan), 1903


Clear Air, 1901


Untitled, 1940


Impression V (Park), 1911
Saint-Paul de Vence, Fondation Maeght (1)


Red knot, 1936
Vézelay, Musée Zervos (1)


Black Forms on White, 1934

Russian Federation

Astrakhan Picture Gallery named after B.M. Kustodiev (1)


Fate. Domes, 1909
Kazan Museum of Fine Arts (1)


Improvisation 34, 1913
Kirov, Vyatka Art Museum named after V.M. and A.M. Vasnetsov (1)


Sketch for composition «Red with Black», 1915
Krasnodar Regional Art Museum F.A. Kovalenko (2)


Non-Objective, 1910


Non-objective, 1917
Krasnoyarsk Museum of Fine Arts (1)


Improvisation 209, 1917
Moscow, Manukhina Private Collection (1)


Mountain Lake, 1899
Moscow, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (4)
The museum houses three major paintings by Kandinsky: Improvisation 20, which was transferred from the State Museum of New Western Art following its liquidation in 1948, while the other two masterworks were added to the permanent collection under the will of the artist's widow, Nina Kandinsky. Opened in 1912, the Pushkin Museum holds one of Russia’s largest and most comprehensive collections of foreign art. Its holdings of 19th- and 20th-century French painting are world-renowned, and the institution welcomes over one million visitors annually.


Imatra, 1917


Improvisation 20 (Two Horses), 1911


Blue over Multicolored, 1925


Angular Structure, 1930
Moscow, The State Tretyakov Gallery (19)


Composition VII, 1913


Moscow. Red Square, 1916


Improvisation 7, 1910


Odessa. Port, 1898


Moscow Environs, 1908


White Oval, 1919


Overcast, 1917


Moscow. Smolensky Boulevard. Study, 1916


Moscow. Zubovskaya Square. Study, 1916


Rider. St. George, 1915 - 1916


Crinoline Lady, 1909


Lake, 1910


Moonlight Night, 1907


Farewell, 1903


Movement I, 1935


Crinoline Lady, 1918


Exotic Birds, 1915


Improvisation of Cold Forms, 1914


Ship, 1918
Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum (1)


Improvisation 4, 1909
Ryazan. Regional Art Museum I.P. Pozhalostin (1)


Untitled, 1915
Saint Petersburg, Hermitage Museum (5)
The museum’s collection comprises five paintings by the artist. Among the most significant are Composition VI (1913) — a monumental masterpiece of Kandinsky’s expressionistic abstraction — and Winter Landscape (1909), which epitomizes his period of intensive experimentation with color and form. Sketch for Composition V (1911)  was acquired in 1969 from a private collection, whereas the other four works were transferred to the Hermitage following the liquidation of the State Museum of New Western Art (GMNZI) in 1948. This historical institution originally housed Russia's premier collection of modern art, largely built upon the landmark nationalized collections of the prominent industrialist-merchants Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov.


Composition VI, 1913


Winter Landscape, 1909


Landscape, 1913


View of Murnau, 1908


Sketch for Composition V, 1911
Saint Petersburg, The Russian Museum (11)
Founded by Imperial Decree in 1895, the State Russian Museum holds the world’s largest collection of Russian art, encompassing more than 400,000 works displayed across five historic buildings in St. Petersburg. The museum's permanent collection includes eleven paintings by Kandinsky. Among these holdings are two Murnau landscapes dating to 1909, several semi-abstract works from his transitional period, and dynamic, expressive canvases inspired by events in Russia spanning 1917 to 1920.

The majority of these paintings were transferred to the Russian Museum during the 1920s from various state repositories and institutions.


Black Spot, 1912


Improvisation 11, 1910


Blue Crest, 1917


Dusk, 1917


Summer Landscape, 1909


Amazon in Mountains, 1918


Saint George, 1911


Composition #218 (Two Ovals), 1919


Composition #224 (On white), 1920


Composition #223 (picture with tops), 1919


Murnau - Summer Landscape, 1909
Tyumen. Museum Complex named after I.Y. Slovevtsov (1)


Violet Wedge, 1919
Vladivostok Museum of Fine Arts (1)


Improvisation, 1913
Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts (1)


Composition 217. Grey Oval, 1917

Switzerland

Basel. Beyeler Foundation (3)
The Fondation Beyeler owes its existence to the visionary collecting couple, Ernst and Hildy Beyeler. The foundation was established in 1982, followed by the opening of its museum in 1997. The concept originated in 1952, when the couple renamed their antiquarian bookshop "Galerie Beyeler" and embarked on their career in the art market. Hildy managed local operations, while Ernst traveled extensively across countries and auctions to expand their holdings.In 1989, the collection was first publicly exhibited as a whole at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, where it achieved widespread international acclaim. Today, the Beyeler collection comprises over 350 masterpieces of modern and contemporary art. The museum’s striking building, custom-designed by the acclaimed Italian architect Renzo Piano, is organically integrated into a picturesque park in Riehen, a municipality on the outskirts of Basel.


Fugue, 1914


Improvisation 10, 1910


Sign Series, 1931
Basel. Kunstmuseum Basel (6)


The Arrow, 1943


Improvisation 35, 1914


Heavy Red, 1924


Pointed Black , 1931


Untitled, 1921


Red, 1924
Bern, Kunstmuseum Bern. (3)


Small Dream In Red, 1925


Yellow Top, 1924


Interior. Gabriele Munter and Marianne von Werefkin, 1910
Zurich, The Merzbacher Collection (7)


Autumn Landscape with Boats, 1908


Murnau. A Village Street, 1908


Murnau. Garden, 1909


Angel of the Last Judgment, 1911


Brown with Supplement, 1935


Lancer in Landscape, 1908


Murnau The Garden II, 1910

Netherlands

Amsterdam. Stedelijk Museum  (8)
The Stedelijk Museum (or "City Museum") was founded in Amsterdam in 1895, originally dedicated to the city’s history. Housed in a landmark Neo-Renaissance building, it initially exhibited historic furniture, coins, jewelry, weaponry, and period interiors from old Amsterdam houses. Between the 1920s and 1940s, much of the historical collection was transferred to other institutions, allowing the museum to focus on developing its holdings of modern Dutch and French art. From 1930 until 1972, the Stedelijk also housed a monumental collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, which was subsequently relocated to its own dedicated museum nearby. By the early 1970s, the Stedelijk had completely phased out its historical lifestyle exhibits, establishing itself exclusively as Amsterdam’s premier museum of modern and contemporary art.

Today, the institution boasts exceptionally rich holdings, including a world-renowned, unique collection of 29 paintings by Kazimir Malevich. The museum perfectly represents virtually all major movements of modern art, showcasing masterpieces by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, and Piet Mondrian.


Archer, 1908


Painting with Houses, 1909


The Bridge, 1902


Watercolour No. 6, 1911


Watercolour No. 2, 1911


Improvisation 33 (Orient 1), 1913


Study for LAD (Harmony), 1917


Two Surroundings, 1934
Eindhoven, Netherlands. Van Abbemuseum (1)


Church in Murnau, 1910
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (4)


Sunday (Old Russian), 1904


Lyrical (Lyrics), 1911


Capricious, 1930


Silent, 1924

Spain

Madrid, Museo Reina Sofía (3)


Centre Circles, 1932


Free, 1932


Untitled, 1924
Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (8)


Houses in Murnau on Obermarkt, 1908


Painting with Three Spots, 1914


Around the Line, 1943


In the Bright Oval, 1925


Murnau: Top of the Johannisstrasse, 1908


The Ludwigskirche in Munich, 1908


Delicate Tension #85, 1923


Sin Titulo, 1922

Azerbaijan

Baku, National Art Museum of Azerbaijan (5)


A Riding Amazon, 1917


Madonna and Christ, 1917


Crinoline Lady, 1917


Lady with Flower, 1917


Lady with a Fan, 1917

Italy

Rome. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (1)


Angular Line, 1930
Venice. Peggy Guggenheim Collection (3)


Landscape with Red Spots, 1913


White cross, 1922


Upward, 1929

United Kingdom

London, Tate (3)


Cossacks (Part of the Composition IV), 1910


Swinging, 1925


Lake Starnberg, 1908

Armenia

Yerevan, National Gallery of Armenia (2)


Composition, 1918


Eastern suite (Arabs III), 1911

Israel

Jerusalem. The Israel Museum (1)


Fixed, 1935
Tel Aviv. Israel. Tel Aviv Museum of Art (1)


Untitled Improvisation V, 1914

Austria

Vienna, Albertina (1)


Inner Alliance, 1929

Denmark

Humlebæk. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (1)


Scale, 1928

Georgia

Tbilisi, Georgian National Museum (1)


Picture with a Circle (Bild mit Kreis), 1911

Japan

Kurashiki, Ohara Museum of Art (1)


Points, 1920

Serbia

Belgrade. National Museum of Serbia (1)


Binz on Rugen, 1901

Sweden

Stockholm, Moderna Museet (1)


Grouping, 1937

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