Description
Composition X carries the highest number among Kandinsky’s Compositions and was painted in 1939 in Paris, five years before the painter’s death: a landscape canvas of 195 x 130 cm on which large masses of colour float over a near-black ground, strewn with tiny signs. The original is held by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf under accession number 0220 and is on view at K20. 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: | Composition X |
| Other titles: | Komposition X · Composizione X · Kompozicija X |
| Painter: | Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) |
| Year: | 1939 |
| Original size: | 195 cm x 130 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Abstract art |
| Location: | Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (inv. 0220) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 60 x 40 cm to 195 x 130 cm, custom size on request |
Composition X – Wassily Kandinsky
Is there anything recognisable on the canvas?
No. No people and no landscape, but large masses of colour floating in the dark, and strewn across them tiny signs: zigzags, crescents, little ladders, nets and squares. The museum publishes no interpretation of this work – its entry carries only data, the signature, the catalogue number and the exhibitions – and so we do not claim what the shapes are supposed to mean either. We describe what is on the canvas, and that is exactly as much as the painter wanted to show.
What is on the canvas?
The ground is almost black and gives everything else its depth. At the upper left lies a large dark red-brown oval mass, strewn over its whole surface with tiny signs: zigzags, crescents, small ladders and nets, a pink disc. A blue-green circle overlaps its right edge, with a pale lilac crescent on its left side, like an eclipse. In the middle stands a tilted pale yellow sheet with ruled lines and a small woven grid, its right half pink. The right half of the canvas is taken up by a large dark brown mass crossed by wide bands of pastel chequerwork; a green arc spans over it, and at the top right sits a cream-and-green circle. Below the centre is a lilac and pink form from which a fan of blue-green and cream stripes falls; to its left an orange comb-like crescent and a dark red wedge. At the lower right stands a large magenta rectangle beneath a dark violet block with a pale crossbar. Long pastel ribbons wind along the right edge. At the lower left is the painter’s signature with the year.
Why does this painting matter?
It was made in 1939 in Paris, where Kandinsky had moved after the Bauhaus was closed in 1933, and it carries the highest number among his Compositions. The museum entry gives the signature at the lower left as “VK 39” and on the reverse as “VK, No. 655, 1939”, the catalogue number Roethel/Benjamin 1093, and the acquisition year 1980. The same museum also holds Composition IV of 1911, so Kandinsky’s early and late language stand under one roof – the first with large dramatic figures, this one with large quiet masses in the dark.
What does the work mean?
The museum does not say, and we are not going to invent it. What can be said 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. On this canvas that sounds like a choir: each mass has its own colour temperature and its own stock of tiny signs, and the black ground holds them apart so they do not mix. The work tells no story and hides none; it offers relations between colours and shapes that the viewer works out for themselves.
Where does this work sit among the others?
Set it beside Composition IV of 1911 and you see the distance of twenty-eight years: there large figures, lances and a rainbow on a light ground, here tiny signs on black. Composition VII of 1913 is the most turbulent of them all; this one is the most ordered. Its closest relative in language is Various Parts of 1940, where the same tiny shapes gather into right-angled fields of colour instead of free masses.
How is our hand-painted version made?
This is an art painting made with a brush and oil paint, not with a printer. The black comes first, because all the depth depends on it; then the large masses, and only at the end the tiny signs, of which the original carries hundreds and which are the hardest part of this work – every zigzag, crescent and square has to be painted with a fine brush and set exactly where it belongs. 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 largest size, 195 x 130 cm, is exactly 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 60 x 40, 80 x 50 and 100 x 70 cm suit a hallway, bedroom or office; 120 x 80 and 140 x 90 cm suit an ordinary wall above a sofa or a sideboard. The sizes 160 x 110 and 180 x 120 cm are for open living spaces and dining rooms. Because the ground is dark, the work gains on a light wall and in reasonably strong light.
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 masses stay in the same relation; 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 Kandinsky reproduction we paint is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, 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 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, accession number 0220; by the museum’s entry it is on view at K20.
How large is the original?
195 x 130 cm, oil on canvas; the museum gives the painted surface as 130 x 195 cm and the frame as 138 x 203.5 x 7.6 cm.
What is depicted?
Nothing representational: large masses of colour on a near-black ground, strewn with tiny signs – zigzags, crescents, nets and squares.
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 195 x 130 cm, which is 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.
Does the work have a hidden meaning?
The museum publishes no interpretation, so neither do we; we describe only what is on the canvas.
Is the original for sale, and what is it worth?
No. The canvas belongs to a public collection in Düsseldorf 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 a great choice. If you would rather leave the choice to them, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: large masses of colour with tiny signs on a near-black ground – 1939
- Original: 195 x 130 cm, oil on canvas, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (inv. 0220)
- Our version: hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes from 60 x 40 to 195 x 130 cm, stretched and framed on request
- Worth knowing: the same museum also holds Composition IV of 1911
