Improvisation 19
1911 · Oil on canvas · Lenbachhaus, Munich
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About this work
- Artist
- Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944)
- Year
- 1911
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 120 × 141.5 cm
- Collection
- Lenbachhaus, Munich
- Movement
- Abstract art
Tall, thin figures outlined in black stand in a wash of blue and violet at the right, while a smaller group in orange, yellow and green crowds the left edge; at the top a dark arc curves across a band of pink and green. The figures have no faces or detail, only contours, and the blue seems to dissolve them. Kandinsky painted it in Munich in 1911, the year he and Franz Marc formed the Blue Rider. He described his Improvisations as largely spontaneous expressions of inner feeling, and in On the Spiritual in Art, published at the end of that year, he wrote of deep blue as the colour that draws the viewer toward the infinite. The procession of figures has often been read in that light, as a scene of spiritual passage. The painting was in Gabriele Münter's collection and came to the Lenbachhaus in Munich with her gift of 1957.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Tall blue figures dissolving into violet beside a cluster in orange and green, for a bedroom, living room or reading room at 24×36 in natural wood. A white, pale blue or lilac wall; it pairs with Blue Horse I.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Abstract art painting
- Era
- 20th century (1911)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- living room, bedroom, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — natural wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Improvisation 19 in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Improvisation 19 painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
