Limited Edition of 150

WHEN KANDINSKY PAINTED THIS LANDSCAPE AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, HE WAS STILL A MAIN IN SEARCH OF HIS ARTISTIC DESTINY. THE GREAT BREAKTHROUGH OF ABSTRACTION WAS STILL A DECADE AWAY, AND FOR NOW KANDINSKY WORKING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MANET AND NEO-IMPRESSIONISM. NEARLY ALL THE WORKS HE PRODUCED IN 1901 WERE LANDSCAPES PAINTED "EN PLEIN AIR", THE OIL PAINT IS LAID ON SO THICKLY THAT INDIVIDUAL ELEMENT SUCH AS THE SPADE-SHAPED TREES ALMOST STAND OUT IN RELIEF. ‘HE USED A PALETTE KNIFE RATHER THAN A BRUSH TO APPLY BRIGHT PIGMENTS LAYER ON LAYER,’ WROTE KANDINSKY'S FELLOW STUDENT, IGOR GRABAR. ‘THESE TURNED OUT TO BE MULTI-COLOURED, UNRESOLVED STUDIES – AND AMONG OURSELVES WE JOKED ABOUT HIS EXERCISES IN PURITY OF COLOUR.’ BUT KANDINSKY WAS FEELING HIS WAY TOWARDS A GRAND THEORY OF COLOUR IN ART. THIS LANDSCAPE IS ONE OF HIS MORE BEAUTIFUL EARLY EXPERIMENTS.