Two Women in a Moonlit Landscape

Klänge (Sounds), a book of short poems that Wassily Kandinsky wrote and illustrated, and explores both sight and sound. Many of the poems repeat certain words in order to emphasize their distinctive aural qualities. The woodcuts are equally experimental, with the images ranging from representational to completely abstract. In Two Women in a Moonlit Landscape, Kandinsky deemphasizes naturalism in order to focus on the interaction between formal elements. Foliage is transformed into patterns of black and white, while the repetition of rounded shapes in the hunched woman and the bent trees creates rhythm.

Kandinsky was one of the most important abstract artists of the 20th century. Born in Russia, Kandinsky was active in Germany, becoming a leading member of avant-garde groups such as Der Blaue Reiter and the Bauhaus. He had a deeply spiritual view of art, and he believed that artists would lead society into a new era of spiritual awakening. Though never widely circulated, Klänge remains one of Kandinsky’s most significant works, refl ecting his desire to create a new, multisensory kind of art.