Blue Mountain (Der blaue Berg)

Wassily Kandinsky

Oil on canvas

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Blue Mountain (Der blaue Berg) is an oil on canvas painted by Wassily Kandinsky in 1908–09, now held in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The composition centers on a boldly rendered blue mountain flanked by vivid yellow and red trees, while groups of horse-and-riders traverse the foreground in non-naturalistic, schematized forms. As Britannica notes, the painting's evolution toward nonrepresentation is clearly underway, with schematic forms, nonnaturalistic colors, and the general effect of a dream landscape. Born in Moscow in 1866, Kandinsky abandoned a law career to study painting in Munich, and this work represents a pivotal transitional moment in his journey from figurative Expressionism toward pure abstraction.