Cossacks

Kandinsky was living near Munich around 1910, painting his way out of recognisable images toward pure colour and line. This canvas is caught right on that edge. Its title points to what set it off: memories of Cossack horsemen riding into Moscow during the failed Russian revolution of 1905, which Kandinsky had lived through. Once you know that, the shapes begin to sort themselves out. The blue forms with orange caps near the bottom are two Cossacks, their long lances crossing the sky. A hill rises at the right, birds scatter above, and a bright rainbow arcs over the whole scene. Within another year or two Kandinsky would drop even these last clues and let the colours stand on their own.