Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle

Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle is an illustrated and comprehensive art book about the work and life of Vasily Kandinsky, published by Guggenheim Museum Publications in 2021, with 188 pages. This richly illustrated volume revisits the trajectory of one of the main artistic innovators of abstraction in the 20th century, Vasily Kandinsky, who sought to free painting from its ties to the natural world to promote the spiritual in art. The publication offers a new critical perspective, reframing the understanding of this vital figure of European modernism, who was also a prolific aesthetic theorist and writer. This is a remarkable example among luxury coffee table books, ideal for collectors and modern art enthusiasts. It also qualifies as a sophisticated luxury gift and an elegant option for corporate gifts. The book is presented in a Special Edition with an acrylic case, further enhancing the piece.

A series of thematic essays delves into Kandinsky's involvement with avant-garde artistic communities, such as the Bauhaus, his relationship with improvisation and music, his travels through Europe and Russia, and the influences behind his self-declared anarchist mode of abstraction. Tracing the artist's life and work through his years in Moscow, various cities in Germany, and Paris, the texts provide insights into how his style and creative production were intrinsically linked to a sense of place and displacement, evolving amidst the political and social upheavals catalyzed by the Russian Revolution and World Wars I and II. The work Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle highlights the intimate connection between the artist's history and that of the Guggenheim Museum, revealing that Solomon R. Guggenheim began collecting his works in 1929, meeting him at the Bauhaus in Dessau a year later.

This book features more than half of the extensive collection of Kandinsky's works belonging to the Guggenheim Museum, showing the entire trajectory of his artistic development and career. It includes a wide range of media, such as oil paintings and oil with sand, reverse glass paintings, woodcuts, watercolors, and drawings on paper. An illustrated chronicle of Kandinsky's life and career, including selected exhibitions and publications, complements the volume, making it an indispensable resource for the study of abstract art and modernism.