Cubism & Early Abstraction · 1903

The Blue Rider

Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944

The Blue Rider (1903) by Wassily Kandinsky. Its palette is led by rich olive (#696d24, 21%) and yellow (#7e842b, 19%), with accents of taupe, dark reddish brown and pale greenish chartreuse. Overall the canvas is mid-toned, 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

#696d24 MG 197 rich olive 20.7% of canvas
#7e842b MG 045 yellow 18.8% of canvas
#9aa833 MG 049 light chartreuse 16.3% of canvas
#5e544b MG 176 taupe 16.2% of canvas
#3a2923 MG 156 dark reddish brown 16.1% of canvas
#76906c MG 056 muted lime green 7.8% of canvas
#d7e752 MG 047 pale greenish chartreuse 4.2% of canvas

Color families

Brown 44%, Yellow 27%, Green 22%, Black 4%, Gray 2%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.54
Contrast: 0.50
Vividness: 0.085
Warmth: +0.96
Complexity: 214 cells
Hue range: 0.37
Focus: 0.12

Composition

58% of the visual weight is in the left half, 55% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.66 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 2% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 37% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1903
Medium: Oil on cardboard
Size: 55.0 × 60.0 cm
Genre: mythological painting
Collection: Russia

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