20th Century Modern Art

An Analysis of Three Works of Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Wassily Kandinsky helped open up the door to abstract art with his book

Concerning the Spiritual in Art. A lawyer by trade and a latecomer to the art world, Kandinsky made art that was an expression of the "spiritual" side of life: an abstract representation of the world beneath the world. Kandinsky's works were everything modern art wanted to be: real, acerbic, playful, and mysterious; soaking up the subjective character of modernism, but boldly proclaiming life through the interaction of line and color. Much of mid-20th century modern art has its roots in Kandinsky. Whether pop art, fashion art, or abstract art, there is something of Kandinsky's spirit in all of it: individualistic, kitschy, and chaotic, it attempts to reflect through an act of creation a culture that is in collapse. This paper will analyze three...
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