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Lot Essay
Executed in a mosaic of resplendent color, Morgenstunde is a rare and important example of Wassily Kandinsky’s early romantic fairytale paintings. Carefully planned and diligently constructed using a sophisticated mixture of distemper and gouache paint against a dark ground, these compositions draw inspiration from the culture and traditions of the artist’s homeland of Russia. With their imagery of folk stories, lyrical songs and legends, depicting mythical heroes and heroines, animals and magical beings, they transport the viewer to a mystical, otherworldly realm outside of time. Dating to 1907, Morgenstunde is one of the culminating examples of these intricately composed works, and reveals the rich myriad of influences that shaped Kandinsky’s pioneering vision during these crucial years.
At this time, Kandinsky was living in Sèvres, near Paris, with his companion and fellow painter, Gabriele Münter. The two had arrived in the French capital in May 1906 and settled first on the rue des Ursulines before relocating to a larger apartment near the Parc de Saint-Cloud in the quiet suburb of Sèvres. Though separated from the hustle and bustle of the capital, the two artists were able to immerse themselves in the latest developments within the contemporary avant-garde scene through their regular visits to exhibitions, dealers and cutting-edge collectors across the city. In this way, they gained an in-depth knowledge of French Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism, which in turn began to impact their own painterly vision.
While Kandinsky had been experimenting with a technique he described as “color drawing” for several years up to this point, this style of painting reached a bold climax during his time in Paris, as these experiences encouraged him to push their decorative qualities to new heights. The fairytale imagery he pursued in these works remained firmly rooted in the story-telling traditions of his native Russia, which were experiencing a resurgence in popularity among artists and writers at this time. Many of Kandinsky’s paintings of motifs russes bear close affinities to the art nouveau fairytale illustrations of Ivan Bilibin, for example, or the romantic painterly visions of Mikhail Vrubel, both of whom featured regularly in the periodical Mir iskusstva (The World of Art), to which Kandinsky was a frequent contributor.
In addition, the 1906 Salon d’Automne had included a section dedicated to modern Russian art, organized and curated by Sergei Dhiagilev, which showcased the work of many artists spearheading this cultural revival. Kandinsky visited the show on multiple occasions—he won a Grand Prix for the selection of works he showed in the main section of the Salon d’Automne that year—and was inspired to delve into these themes once again in his own work, resulting in a flurry of new compositions that mark the high-point of his fairytale paintings. As Kandinsky later explained, “At that time, I tried, by lines and by distribution of mottled points of color, to express the musical spirit of Russia. Other pictures of that period reflected the contradictions, and later the eccentricities of Russia” (letter to W. Grohmann, 12 October 1924; quoted in W. Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work, London, 1959, p. 51).
"…this vision of art has its origins in the true Russian soul…" - Wassily Kandinsky
Rather than focusing on single stories or specific scenes from well-known tales, Kandinsky increasingly combined elements and iconography from multiple different narratives in his compositions, blending storylines and characters to conjure an overall atmosphere of mystical, timeless magic. In Morgenstunde, the subject remains enigmatic—a large crowd gathers in front of a walled city, its colorful skyline of spires and domes lit by the early morning light. Many of the figures carry tall spears, swords and other weapons, suggesting they are an army on the march, or a group of valiant citizens preparing to defend their city.
Each figure is dressed in vividly patterned clothing that enlivens the scene, switching from short diagonal dashes to swirling roundels and densely woven lines, which Kandinsky uses to individualize the characters from one another. In the open space to the right, a single rider on horseback travels away from the city, a trumpet raised to their lips as if they are heralding the beginning of an event or announcing the group’s arrival. Above, a quartet of white geese powers through the air, heading in the opposite direction to the rider, perhaps seeking shelter among the buildings, lending the scene a dynamic sense of cross-ward movement.
At the front of the group, a blue-robed figure clasps his hands together, as if in prayer, and turns his gaze skywards, his expression solemn and serene. This character had previously appeared on the title page of Kandinsky’s portfolio of woodcut prints, Stichi bez slov (Verses without words) from 1903, in the same pose and costume, though standing on his own. Kandinsky had achieved a high degree of mastery over the difficult relief printing technique of woodcut following his move to Europe, resulting in skilled, expressive images through which he channeled his lyrical, romantic vision. In particular, he reveled in the way the woodcut forced him to simplify and condense his imagery, relying on clear contrasts and flattened planes of form to describe the essence of his subjects.
In works such as Morgenstunde, Kandinsky translates these lessons into his painting, allowing the scene to emerge from the dark ground, eschewing contour lines so that his figures are delineated through a deftly placed network of colorful brushstrokes alone. Only on close inspection does the kaleidoscope of colored strokes coalesce into discernible figures, revealing highly expressive faces among the crowd, each touch of the artist’s brush deliberately placed to convey an impression of the character and their mood, as they await their fate. While this precise placement of small, short touches of pigment invokes the theories and practice of the Pointillists, the technique also recalls aspects of the traditional crafts and cottage industries that Kandinsky would have encountered on his travels through his homeland, from bead embroidery and glass painting to lacquer work.
These works were composed with great care, the interplay between the bright pigments and the dark background providing the core structure of the composition. In his 1913 autobiographical text Reminiscences, Kandinsky explained that his preference for such powerful contrasts could be traced back to the impressions Rembrandt’s work had left on his imagination: “Rembrandt moved me deeply. The great divisions of light and dark… revealed to me entirely new possibilities, the superhuman power of color in its own right, and in particular the intensification of that power achieved by combinations” (“Reminiscences” in K.C. Lindsay and P. Vergo, eds., Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1994, p. 366).
As Kandinsky noted, black was “externally the most toneless color, against which all other colors, even the weakest, sound stronger and more precise” (quoted in J. Hahl-Koch, Kandinsky, London, 1993, p. 92). This allowed his bright touches of pigment to stand out and achieve a greater luminosity within the scene, so that they almost pulse before the eye. By allowing his strokes of color to play an independent and autonomous role in constructing his figures and the city at their backs, Kandinsky reached a deeper understanding of its potential when freed from traditional roles within the painting. This break-through marked a crucial stepping-stone on the artist’s path to complete abstraction.
"For many years I have sought the possibility of letting the viewer ‘stroll’ within the picture, forcing him to become absorbed in the picture, forgetful of himself." - Wassily Kandinsky
Kandinsky selected Morgenstunde from his recent paintings for inclusion in the 1907 Salon d’Automne, and it later appeared in an important album of his work, compiled and published by Herwarth Walden under the Der Sturm imprint in 1912. Walden was a key figure within the German avant-garde at this time, a forward-thinking publisher, critic and gallerist who championed the daring work of the Expressionists, the Cubists and the Futurists. Writing to Kandinsky on 15 September 1912, he proclaimed “I consider… you to be the most important European phenomenon of the present” (quoted in Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider, exh. cat., Tate, London, 2024, p. 186). Morgenstunde was acquired by Walden in that same year, and remained with him until at least 1924. It was acquired by Arnold and Joan Saltzman in 1979, and has remained a central part of their esteemed and wide-ranging art collection for over 45 years.
At this time, Kandinsky was living in Sèvres, near Paris, with his companion and fellow painter, Gabriele Münter. The two had arrived in the French capital in May 1906 and settled first on the rue des Ursulines before relocating to a larger apartment near the Parc de Saint-Cloud in the quiet suburb of Sèvres. Though separated from the hustle and bustle of the capital, the two artists were able to immerse themselves in the latest developments within the contemporary avant-garde scene through their regular visits to exhibitions, dealers and cutting-edge collectors across the city. In this way, they gained an in-depth knowledge of French Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism, which in turn began to impact their own painterly vision.
While Kandinsky had been experimenting with a technique he described as “color drawing” for several years up to this point, this style of painting reached a bold climax during his time in Paris, as these experiences encouraged him to push their decorative qualities to new heights. The fairytale imagery he pursued in these works remained firmly rooted in the story-telling traditions of his native Russia, which were experiencing a resurgence in popularity among artists and writers at this time. Many of Kandinsky’s paintings of motifs russes bear close affinities to the art nouveau fairytale illustrations of Ivan Bilibin, for example, or the romantic painterly visions of Mikhail Vrubel, both of whom featured regularly in the periodical Mir iskusstva (The World of Art), to which Kandinsky was a frequent contributor.
In addition, the 1906 Salon d’Automne had included a section dedicated to modern Russian art, organized and curated by Sergei Dhiagilev, which showcased the work of many artists spearheading this cultural revival. Kandinsky visited the show on multiple occasions—he won a Grand Prix for the selection of works he showed in the main section of the Salon d’Automne that year—and was inspired to delve into these themes once again in his own work, resulting in a flurry of new compositions that mark the high-point of his fairytale paintings. As Kandinsky later explained, “At that time, I tried, by lines and by distribution of mottled points of color, to express the musical spirit of Russia. Other pictures of that period reflected the contradictions, and later the eccentricities of Russia” (letter to W. Grohmann, 12 October 1924; quoted in W. Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work, London, 1959, p. 51).
"…this vision of art has its origins in the true Russian soul…" - Wassily Kandinsky
Rather than focusing on single stories or specific scenes from well-known tales, Kandinsky increasingly combined elements and iconography from multiple different narratives in his compositions, blending storylines and characters to conjure an overall atmosphere of mystical, timeless magic. In Morgenstunde, the subject remains enigmatic—a large crowd gathers in front of a walled city, its colorful skyline of spires and domes lit by the early morning light. Many of the figures carry tall spears, swords and other weapons, suggesting they are an army on the march, or a group of valiant citizens preparing to defend their city.
Each figure is dressed in vividly patterned clothing that enlivens the scene, switching from short diagonal dashes to swirling roundels and densely woven lines, which Kandinsky uses to individualize the characters from one another. In the open space to the right, a single rider on horseback travels away from the city, a trumpet raised to their lips as if they are heralding the beginning of an event or announcing the group’s arrival. Above, a quartet of white geese powers through the air, heading in the opposite direction to the rider, perhaps seeking shelter among the buildings, lending the scene a dynamic sense of cross-ward movement.
At the front of the group, a blue-robed figure clasps his hands together, as if in prayer, and turns his gaze skywards, his expression solemn and serene. This character had previously appeared on the title page of Kandinsky’s portfolio of woodcut prints, Stichi bez slov (Verses without words) from 1903, in the same pose and costume, though standing on his own. Kandinsky had achieved a high degree of mastery over the difficult relief printing technique of woodcut following his move to Europe, resulting in skilled, expressive images through which he channeled his lyrical, romantic vision. In particular, he reveled in the way the woodcut forced him to simplify and condense his imagery, relying on clear contrasts and flattened planes of form to describe the essence of his subjects.
In works such as Morgenstunde, Kandinsky translates these lessons into his painting, allowing the scene to emerge from the dark ground, eschewing contour lines so that his figures are delineated through a deftly placed network of colorful brushstrokes alone. Only on close inspection does the kaleidoscope of colored strokes coalesce into discernible figures, revealing highly expressive faces among the crowd, each touch of the artist’s brush deliberately placed to convey an impression of the character and their mood, as they await their fate. While this precise placement of small, short touches of pigment invokes the theories and practice of the Pointillists, the technique also recalls aspects of the traditional crafts and cottage industries that Kandinsky would have encountered on his travels through his homeland, from bead embroidery and glass painting to lacquer work.
These works were composed with great care, the interplay between the bright pigments and the dark background providing the core structure of the composition. In his 1913 autobiographical text Reminiscences, Kandinsky explained that his preference for such powerful contrasts could be traced back to the impressions Rembrandt’s work had left on his imagination: “Rembrandt moved me deeply. The great divisions of light and dark… revealed to me entirely new possibilities, the superhuman power of color in its own right, and in particular the intensification of that power achieved by combinations” (“Reminiscences” in K.C. Lindsay and P. Vergo, eds., Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1994, p. 366).
As Kandinsky noted, black was “externally the most toneless color, against which all other colors, even the weakest, sound stronger and more precise” (quoted in J. Hahl-Koch, Kandinsky, London, 1993, p. 92). This allowed his bright touches of pigment to stand out and achieve a greater luminosity within the scene, so that they almost pulse before the eye. By allowing his strokes of color to play an independent and autonomous role in constructing his figures and the city at their backs, Kandinsky reached a deeper understanding of its potential when freed from traditional roles within the painting. This break-through marked a crucial stepping-stone on the artist’s path to complete abstraction.
"For many years I have sought the possibility of letting the viewer ‘stroll’ within the picture, forcing him to become absorbed in the picture, forgetful of himself." - Wassily Kandinsky
Kandinsky selected Morgenstunde from his recent paintings for inclusion in the 1907 Salon d’Automne, and it later appeared in an important album of his work, compiled and published by Herwarth Walden under the Der Sturm imprint in 1912. Walden was a key figure within the German avant-garde at this time, a forward-thinking publisher, critic and gallerist who championed the daring work of the Expressionists, the Cubists and the Futurists. Writing to Kandinsky on 15 September 1912, he proclaimed “I consider… you to be the most important European phenomenon of the present” (quoted in Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider, exh. cat., Tate, London, 2024, p. 186). Morgenstunde was acquired by Walden in that same year, and remained with him until at least 1924. It was acquired by Arnold and Joan Saltzman in 1979, and has remained a central part of their esteemed and wide-ranging art collection for over 45 years.