Concerning the Spiritual in Art

In the brief concluding chapter, Kandinsky directly addresses his own work, something he does only infrequently in the book. By minimizing analysis of his own paintings, Kandinsky avoids making himself the center of attention in the book, concentrating instead on universal ideas and the broader history of art. Following the moral exhortation of the previous chapter, Kandinsky turns once more to technical analysis, thus defining the two poles of the book as those of philosophical/aesthetic ideas and technical/artistic ideas, as expressed in the respective titles of the book’s two parts. In his analysis of types of composition, Kandinsky draws together painting, architecture, and music, thus driving home again his beliefs about the unity of the arts (See: Themes: The Affinity of Visual Art and Music). Kandinsky’s use of the musical terms melodic and symphonic to describe types of composition in painting further emphasizes this unity.

Kandinsky concludes by contrasting inspiration-driven art with art of “conscious construction” or “deliberate composition.” He opts for the latter as the ideal way of creating art in the modern era. Kandinsky thus defines modernity as concerned with reason, planning, and organization—essentially, a scientific age as opposed to the romantic age that was the 19th century. This concluding statement reveals the paradox at the heart of Kandinsky’s thought—he rejects the scientific materialism of his age while championing its methods. He argues that careful, conscious composition will be the hallmark of the coming age, one he describes as “an epoch of great spirituality” (57).