Exquisitely executed in watercolour and ink, Ohne Titel (Komposition) dates from an important point in Kandinsky’s career and personal life. With the outbreak of the First World War, Kandinsky was forced to leave Germany and ultimately return to Russia in 1914. The unexpected homecoming presented the artist with a moment of reflection and adjustment, evident in his artistic output. From 1914 to 1921, Kandinsky painted only forty oils, previously a year’s output, focusing instead on his artistic theories and their expression in the new medium of watercolour, of which the present work is a prime example.

Throughout Kandinsky’s life, colour and line were the most important vehicles in expressing his deeply emotional connection with the world around him. The artist’s t.mes in Murnau, from 1909 leading up to the First World War, was a period of intense experimentation during which colour and form became increasingly separated from one another. The inevitable movement towards abstraction came into full fruition in 1913 with the ground-breaking Composition VII which saw the achievement of what Kandinsky referred to as ‘absolute’ painting. The dynamic use of geometric shapes, strong linear elements and vibrant planes of colour enabled him to break through the barrier of representational art and give new meaning to what painting could achieve.

Shortly after Kandinsky’s accomplishment with Composition VII, the growing instabilities in Europe and the eventual outbreak of the First World War forced him to leave Germany. His return to Russia produced a renewed focus on the elimination of the object in his work and watercolour became his preferred medium. Previously, Kandinsky had relied on watercolour as a means of preparation for large-scale oils such as Composition VII or Träumerische Improvisation, producing numerous sketches and drawings in watercolour that tended to focus on individual aspects, or provide an outline of the composition as a whole.

From 1914 onwards, his watercolours took on an important role in their own right, rarely serving as preparatory studies for larger works on canvas. The translucent characteristic of the medium provided the artist with a new approach to colour, furthering his lessons in abstraction. Rather than using strong planes of block colour, he was able to provide depth and space through different shades and tones.

As Frank Whitford notes: ‘Determined to achieve unusual effects, he even mixed watercolours and oils on occasion, or added soap and other substances to his paint. In many of his works on paper the colours nevertheless achieve a brilliance and saturation rarely approached in his oils. Given the central importance of colour in his œuvre, it might therefore be argued that Kandinsky’s sensibilities found its fullest expression in his watercolours’ (F. Whitford, Watercolours and other Works on Paper (exhibition catalogue), The Royal Academy of Art, London, 1999, p. 13).

In addition to colour, Kandinsky was fascinated by the emotive power of music and its ability to express his feelings. As a young man in Moscow, he saw a performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin and the emotional experience it evoked continued to resonate throughout his life. He recalled: ‘I saw all my colors in my mind; they stood before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me’ (quoted in M. Dabrowski, Kandinsky: Compositions (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1995, p. 19). Kandinsky realised that art and music prompted related emotional reactions. A sound would make him see a specific colour; equally a specific colour would make him hear a particular sound. In Ohne Titel (Komposition), Kandinsky beautifully evokes the metaphysical with his ingenious use of colour and line. Here, the lines have a special calligraphic quality to them, and Kandinsky masterfully plays with their alternating thickness and intensity. Strong black lines are counterbalanced with delicate and fine cross-hatching, creating a dynamic and vibrating composition.