In Grey
1919 · Oil on canvas · Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
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About this work
- Artist
- Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944)
- Year
- 1919
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 129 × 176 cm
- Collection
- Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
- Movement
- Abstract art
A grey field, darker toward the edges, is crowded with small, sharp, half-recognisable forms: red and blue wedges, black arcs and spikes, feathery spurs, a ladder-like strip and tiny shapes that read almost like boats, birds or insects. A red diagonal rises at upper left and a black line runs off the lower edge, and the whole mass seems to drift toward the centre as if caught in a current. Kandinsky painted it in Moscow in 1919, during the years he spent in Russia after the outbreak of war, and it was shown in an exhibition of his work there in 1920. He later described In Grey as the conclusion of his dramatic period, the crowded, turbulent manner that had begun in Munich before the war; within two years his painting turned to clean geometry. It came to the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris with Nina Kandinsky's bequest in 1981.
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
A grey field crowded with small red, blue and black forms drifting to the centre, for a study, home office or hallway at 24×18 in black. A charcoal, white or warm grey wall; it pairs with Composition VII.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Abstract art painting
- Era
- 20th century (1919)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, home office, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×18. Prints at 16×12, 24×18, 32×24 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard; 32×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
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 In Grey in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was In Grey 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.





























