The oeuvre of Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), one of the greatest figures in modern art, was long considered the f irst expression of non-figurative art at the beginning of the 20th century. While it is now recognised that the origins of abstraction are multiple, the theoretical work of the Russianborn artist and his role as initiator, publisher and teacher continue to demonstrate his decisive contribution to the idea of an ‘autonomous’ art, freed from any reference to the outside world.

Through the donations and subsequent bequest of his widow Nina Kandinsky, the Centre Pompidou holds the most complete collection of the artist’s works. The paintings presented here all belong to the collection of the Centre Pompidou-Musée national d’art moderne. This retrospective traces Kandinsky’s extraordinary itinerary through Russia, Germany and France.

In five chapters, the exhibition reviews his figurative beginnings, the genesis of his abstract art in Munich, his return to his native Russia during the revolutionary period, his teaching activities at the Bauhaus and his final years in Paris.