'Untitled' (c. 1916) is one of Kandinsky’s most exquisite works created at a time when substantial changes were taking place in the artist’s life and work. After his return to Russia in 1914, the turbulent events of World War I brought serious changes to his technique: he mainly had to use gouache or watercolors on paper, with a few exceptions — for example, his famous Moscow. Red Square painted in 1916.

The refined balance between color and form in the 'Untitled' holds the visual power of his Munich period (for example, refer to 'Composition VII' - but also possesses a new liveliness and a sense of compositional unity. At its core is a whirlpool of color, bursting with sparkling yellow and blue and accentuated by thin black lines. Paul Overy wrote: “Those several works he created show an unceasing evolution, some progressive reconsidering in colour. In the works painted in Russia geometrical shapes arise from gradual simplification of the amorphous shapes typical of Munich period paintings [...]. Painting elements seem to be in a state of tension; on the one hand, they show a way to geometricity, and on the other – that to spontaneous bursting forms of his Munich works.”

Timeline

1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944