434 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1951 



of his paintings. Kandinsky started life as an economist and stat- 

 istician. The change-over from what he called "the sciences" to art 

 was a long and painful process. His first abstract painting appeared 

 in 1911 ; a series of nonobjective etchings followed in 1912. His paint- 

 ing took various directions during his life, but the vast majority of his 

 works are suggestive of objects suspended in space, reminiscent of 

 Eddington's "specks floating in the void." 



In his autobiography, written in 1913 and revised and republished 

 in Moscow in 1918, Kandinsky gives a full account of the role played 

 in his development by the atomic discoveries of modern science. After 

 discussing his work at the University of Moscow in the fields of 

 political economy, law, and ethnology, and the unsatisfied yearning 

 to paint that plagued him during this period, he writes : 



But in those early days, my artistic powers seemed to me too weak and 

 insignificant to entitle me to abandon my otlier studies and lead the life of 

 an artist . . . And at that time, when the Russian social picture was particu- 

 larly somber, my studies were appreciated by many and I decided to train for 

 a scientist. . . . 



It was around that time that two events took place, both of which were to 

 influence me strongly in my future life. The first was the exhibition of French 

 Impressionists that was held in Moscow, one of the pictures being The Stack 

 of Hay by Claude Monet. The second was the production of Wagner's Lohen- 

 grin at the Grand Theatre. 



Up to this time I was familiar with the realistic school of painting, and — 

 at that — chiefly with the work of the Russian painters. . . . 



And then suddenly, for the first time in my life, I found myself looking at a 

 real painting. It seemed to me that, without a catalogue in my hand, it would 

 have been impossible to recognize what the painting was meant to represent. 

 This irked me, and I kept thinking that no artist has the right to paint in such 

 a manner. But at the same time, and to my surprise and confusion, I dis- 

 covered that it captivated and troubled me, imprinting itself indelibly on my 

 mind and memory down to its smallest detail. But, on the whole, I could 

 make neither head nor tail of it, and was, therefore, quite incapable of arriv- 

 ing at the conclusions which later appeared so simple. 



But what did become clear to me, was the previously unimagined, unrevealed 

 and all-surpassing power of the palette. Painting showed itself to me in all 

 its fantasy and enchantment. And deep inside of me, there was born the 

 first faint doubt as to the importance of an object as the necessary element 

 in a painting. . . . 



It was in Lohengrin that I felt the supreme incarnation and interpretation 

 of this vision through music. . . . 



I could see all my colors, as they came to life before my eyes. Madly, in 

 raging profusion, they drew themselves in my mind ... it became totally clear 

 to me that art in general possessed a far greater power than I ever had imagined. 

 I also realized that painting possesses the same power as music. It was then 

 that the impossibility of devoting myself to the seeking of these powers be- 

 came an even greater torment. The temptation to do so was overwhelming. . . . 

 And just then, one of the most formidable obstacles on the way to the realiza- 

 tion of my wishes, crumbled and vanished by itself, all thanks to a purely 

 scientific event. This was the disintegration of the atom. 



