Kandinsky at the Guggenheim

I am so sorry that I have been missing for the past week! A ton of work at the gallery collided with a small fever and all of a sudden I realized that it had been forever since I've posted. Feels like it's been forever since I've had a minute to sit down and relax, as well. I'm looking forward to adjusting back into my normal routine of not working 7 days a week plus evenings, and doing things like cooking, organizing, reading... ah even laundry sounds appealing at this point!

Anyway, I'm dying to tell you about the Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim. In college, Kandinsky was one of my favorite artists, and going to this show reminded me why he still is. The colors, movement, passion, creativity... ah! It is all just so wonderful!

The show is extensive, filling the entire rotunda with his paintings plus a large side gallery in the Tower with works on paper. The show works its way up the rotunda chronologically, which works perfectly for an artist like Kandinsky. It is fascinating to see how his art develops, becoming looser, then tighter, then non-objective, then more objective, colorful, then dark, etc. Plus all of this is going on through two world wars, and the affects they have on his art as he moves around Europe really pulls everything together for the viewer.

I saw the show for a second time with an old friend of Wright's, who pointed out that the truly amazing thing about Kandinsky's work is his ability to bring together so many art forms into an image. The influence of music, history, painting, theater, dance and architecture can all be seen in his paintings. Creativity is projecting from each canvas in such a beautiful way - and in the Guggenheim's curving galleries it was just the perfect storm.

This is truly one of the best shows I've seen in the past few years, for many reasons, and I'd highly recommend you hightail it to the Gugg before it closes in January.

For more information, see www.guggenheim.org. All images courtesy of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. N.B. The Guggenheim is closed on Thursday.