Description
Dominant Curve (Courbe dominante) was painted in January 1936 in Paris: a landscape canvas of 194.3 x 129.2 cm across which a broad white curve sweeps from the upper right towards the centre, and it is that curve which gives the work its name. The original is held by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York under accession number 45.989. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas — an oil painting reproduction in eight sizes or to your own measurement — and before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | Dominant Curve |
| Other titles: | Courbe dominante · Curva dominante · Dominantna krivulja |
| Painter: | Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) |
| Year: | 1936 |
| Original size: | 194.3 cm x 129.2 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Abstract art |
| Location: | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (inv. 45.989) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 70 x 50 cm to 210 x 140 cm, custom size on request |
Dominant Curve – Wassily Kandinsky
Is there anything recognisable on the canvas?
Not in the sense of objects you could name, but there are shapes that recall living nature: amoebas, shells, leaves, fins and feelers. They float free: no line on the canvas places them in a space, and no horizon holds them up. The museum’s description of this work cannot be read from the server – the page builds it only in the browser, though the work data is available – and so we attribute no meaning to the shapes either. We describe what is on the canvas.
What is on the canvas?
The ground is light, cream-grey, with soft brown and green clouds. Above, the centre is taken up by a large yellow disc, across which a cluster of black pointed forms crowds in, like the legs and feelers of an insect, and among them a violet field and dark green leaves. From the upper right edge towards the centre sweeps a broad white curve, striped and scattered with dots, and it is this that names the work; a brown field lies in its embrace. At the upper right stand a green rectangle with white squiggles and a red one with pink worm-like forms, and in the corner itself three black rings with pale centres. To the right is a large pink amoeba-like form with a dotted texture, and below it a white staircase drawn in outline and a violet slab. Below, the centre is held by a large orange sphere crossed by a grey-green band; from it long dark arcs pull away to the left. At the lower left is a striped arc with a zigzag net, at the upper left a dark green upright rectangle with pale shell-like forms. At the lower left is the painter’s monogram.
Why does this painting matter?
It was made in the Paris period, which began with his emigration after the Bauhaus was closed in 1933 and lasted until the painter’s death in 1944. This is the time when the sharp geometric figures of the Bauhaus years disappear from Kandinsky’s painting and soft, organic shapes take their place – the same shapes that return in Various Parts of 1940. The work has been in the Solomon R. Guggenheim collection since 1945 under the number 45.989; the record gives January 1936 and the measurement 129.2 x 194.3 cm.
What does the work mean?
A reading by the museum is not available here, and we will not substitute our own for it. The only thing that can be cited here is what Kandinsky himself wrote in Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911): that colour acts directly upon the soul – colour the keyboard, the eye the hammer, the soul the piano with many strings. The title says where the viewer should start: with the curve. The eye follows it of its own accord: the yellow disc ends where the curve crosses it, the orange sphere below repeats its arc on a smaller scale, and the long arcs at the left run the same way past the edge.
Where does this work sit among Kandinsky’s others?
The same museum also holds Composition 8 of 1923, and the difference between the two says almost everything about the thirteen years between them: there the straight line, the circle and the angle, here the curve and the organic form. From the earlier years our range has Impression V (Park) of 1911, where a few riders were still left of the visible world, and from the later ones Composition X of 1939.
How is our hand-painted version made?
A Kandinsky reproduction is a painting made with a brush and oil paint, not with a printer. The light ground with its soft clouds comes first, because everything else is laid over it; then the large shapes – the yellow disc, the white curve, the orange sphere – and only at the end the fine ornament: dots, squiggles, nets and stripes, of which this canvas carries hundreds. The white curve is the hardest part: it runs across half the canvas in one movement, and every correction shows on it. An abstract painting stands or falls with the relation between its colours, so we do not leave it to chance; an oil painting keeps that relation over the years, because paint does not fade the way a print does. For this work we do not yet have studio photographs of our own, so you will not find any on this page – once the next copy is painted we photograph it and the shots come here. Before dispatch every customer receives a photograph of their own finished canvas for approval. Because everything is done by hand, every hand-painted copy is one of a kind and no two are quite alike.
Which size for which wall?
If you are unsure: 120 x 80 cm. The 194 x 129 cm size is effectively the size of the original and is a painting for the living room in the full sense – it wants a broad, quiet wall and the distance from which it can be taken in at a single glance. The smaller sizes 70 x 50 and 90 x 60 cm suit a hallway, bedroom or office; 100 x 70 and 120 x 80 cm suit an ordinary wall above a sofa or a sideboard. The sizes 150 x 100, 170 x 110 and 210 x 140 cm are for open living spaces and dining rooms; only at those does the fine ornament open out enough to be read. Because the ground is light, the work holds its own on a darker wall too.
Custom sizes, stretcher and frame
If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint the work to your measurements and keep the original’s proportions, so the curve keeps its sweep; that is our painting to order. Like every canvas painting we make, this copy is delivered stretched on a wooden stretcher and ready to hang. For the frame use our 3D application: it shows every one of our frame profiles on this motif, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood before deciding – the application is for choosing a frame and nothing else. If you want to see how the painting will look on your own wall, that is our separate room-placement service.
Delivery and guarantee
Every copy is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size chosen. We send it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU without customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval, and our returns policy applies to every order. The whole range is in the Wassily Kandinsky gallery, and the painter’s path is described in our article about Wassily Kandinsky.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, accession number 45.989.
How large is the original?
194.3 cm wide and 129.2 cm high, oil on canvas; the record gives the measurement as 129.2 x 194.3 cm.
What is depicted?
Nothing representational: a large white curve, a yellow disc, an orange sphere and a crowd of organic shapes on a light ground.
Is this a print?
No. It is a reproduction hand-painted in oil on canvas; the brush strokes can be seen and felt.
Which size should I choose?
For an ordinary wall 120 x 80 cm, for a broad one 194 x 129 cm, which is effectively the size of the original; for other walls see the size guide above.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
Yes, we paint to measure and keep the original’s proportions.
How is it delivered?
Stretched on a stretcher and framed if you chose that, in 15 to 45 days after you approve the photograph of the finished work.
Where does the title come from?
From the broad white curve that sweeps from the upper right towards the centre, and which the eye catches first.
Is the original for sale, and what is it worth?
No. The canvas belongs to a public collection in New York and is not for sale; a hand-painted canvas is the only way to have it at home.
How high should it hang?
The centre at eye level, about 145-150 cm from the floor; above a sofa, 15-25 cm above the back.
Does it work as a gift?
Yes, for someone who likes modern art it is an excellent choice. If you would rather leave the choice to them, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: a broad white curve among organic shapes on a light ground – 1936
- Original: 194.3 x 129.2 cm, oil on canvas, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (inv. 45.989)
- Our version: hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes from 70 x 50 to 210 x 140 cm, stretched and framed on request
- Worth knowing: the same museum also holds Composition 8 of 1923
