Cubism & Early Abstraction · 1913

Composition VII

Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944

Composition VII (1913) by Wassily Kandinsky. Its palette is led by light golden sand (#ada68e, 29%) and muted lime green (#70835d, 19%), with accents of taupe, dark crimson, charcoal and dark indigo blue. Overall the canvas is light, vivid and warm.

Color note

Kandinsky tied colors to sounds and emotions: in Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911) he likens yellow to a blaring trumpet and deep blue to a pull toward the spiritual. He later taught color and form at the Bauhaus.

Palette

#ada68e MG 190 light golden sand 29.4% of canvas
#70835d MG 057 muted lime green 19.3% of canvas
#9b6225 MG 161 rich scarlet brown 14.9% of canvas
#514d41 MG 176 taupe 13.1% of canvas
#d8d7c7 MG 201 parchment 9.8% of canvas
#7b1a27 MG 008 dark crimson 5.8% of canvas
#242028 MG 222 charcoal 4.5% of canvas
#2c2f7b MG 113 dark indigo blue 3.1% of canvas

Color families

Brown 35%, Yellow 15%, Blue 12%, Gray 11%, Red 10%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.59
Contrast: 0.52
Vividness: 0.068
Warmth: +0.63
Complexity: 226 cells
Hue range: 0.83
Focus: 0.00

Composition

51% of the visual weight is in the right half, 50% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.11 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 3% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 35% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1913
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 200.0 × 300.0 cm
Collection: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

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