Rose with Gray

In Vasily Kandinsky's Rose with Gray, piercing forms explode on a golden field, visually depicting the power of creative energy. Kandinsky had a condition known as synesthesia. When he saw colors, he heard sounds, and when he heard sounds, he saw colors. In his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911), he wrote, "Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul." Kandinsky painted Rose with Gray while teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany.

Gift of the Friends of Art