Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Circles within a Circle’ is my chosen piece of artwork. This is an oil on canvas 38 X 37 inches and was first displayed in the Bauhaus exhibition of 1923. A pioneering piece of Modern abstract expressionism during his Bauhaus period. Kandinsky used geometric perfect circles and shapes within a mathematical type of framework to evoke a new thinking and emotional reaction for the onlooker. Changing and challenging the perception and purpose of art. This was one of the first pieces of abstract art that finally made an immediate impact upon me. I found it both aesthetically pleasing, and it captured my narrative attention. It was like a key that opened my mind and understanding to abstract art and the delights that would follow; where the compositions narrative was no longer a realistic painting that captured a moment, but for me, a starting point of exploration and fanciful imagining. The mathematical use of shapes and colours immediately stick out to me, where the black circle frames and captures the interactions between the inner circles. I find my vision travelling towards how each coloured circle naturally interacts with those it encounters, forming the appropriate colour mix at its intersection(s). My mind forces a 3-dimensional perspective upon the placement of the circles due to the presence of the lines and 2 coloured bands. Although, to me, the circles remain 2-dimensional and flat within its occupied space as if they are transparent. The overall feeling, I get when looking at the painting is a sense of calm and order, as if this is how it should be. Thank you, Kandinsky, for opening my eyes to the beautiful sound of art.
