Painting on Light Ground
1916 · Oil on canvas · Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
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About this work
- Artist
- Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944)
- Year
- 1916
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 100 × 78 cm
- Collection
- Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
- Movement
- Abstract art
A loose, dark-edged border of brown and black brushwork, like the outline of a torn sheet, encloses a pale field in which lighter shapes drift: a rainbow arc, a curving yellow form, flecks of blue, green and red, and fine lines that wander across the centre. The light ground around it pushes the whole cluster forward, so that it seems to float off the canvas. Kandinsky painted it in 1916, during the war years after his return to Russia, when he was producing far fewer oils than before. It continues the free, lyrical abstraction of his last Munich years, but on a lighter, quieter key, and it is one of the few large canvases from that period. Nina Kandinsky gave the painting to the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1976.
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 pale field of drifting rainbow, yellow and blue fragments inside a smoky brown border, for a bedroom, study or reading corner at 24×36 in natural wood. A cream, oatmeal or soft grey wall; it pairs with Little Painting with Yellow.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Abstract art painting
- Era
- 20th century (1916)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- bedroom, study or library, living room, 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 Painting on Light Ground in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Painting on Light Ground 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.
