Wassily Kandinsky – Sky Blue

Sky Blue (Bleu de ciel) is a late abstract painting by Wassily Kandinsky from 1940: an upright canvas of 73 x 100 cm on which about fourteen small coloured creatures float against a pale blue ground. The original is held by the Centre Pompidou in Paris under inventory number AM 1976-862. We make it as a hand-painted reproduction in oil on canvas, in eight sizes or to your measurements, and before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished painting to approve.

Sky Blue – Wassily Kandinsky

Is there anything recognisable in it?

There is no landscape and no figure, but there are shapes the eye reads at once as living things. About fourteen small forms float over an even pale blue ground: one has a red body and a cockerel’s comb, another five long fingers like an open hand, a third a round pink body with a chequered head and a fan above it, and one recalls a jellyfish with hanging arms. None of these creatures is an animal you could name; all are invented, built from lines, dots and striped patches. That is why the work reads either as a look into water or as a look into the sky, depending on how you turn it in your mind – Kandinsky gave them no names, and neither do we.

What is on the canvas?

The canvas stands upright, in a ratio close to 3 : 4. The ground is an even pale blue, lightened almost to white towards the bottom edge and denser at the top; the paint is laid on softly, with no hard transitions, so it reads as air rather than as a wall. About fourteen coloured forms are spread across it, each on its own, none touching another. The largest are in the upper third: a red and black one with a comb at the top left, a yellow-brown one with a ring in the middle, and a pale one with five fingers at the right. The centre is held by a pink creature with a chequered head and white and yellow legs; below it winds a long striped form with a netted patch that suggests a fish. At the lower left stands a blue and red shape with a black half-circle, at the lower right a blue-green one with hanging arms. Between them lie tiny squares, dots and hooks only millimetres across. The painter’s monogram sits in the lower left corner.

Why does this painting matter?

It comes from the painter’s last years: according to the museum’s record it was made in 1940, four years before his death in France. The great collisions of colour and the geometric rigour of the earlier periods are gone; what remains is lightness, an empty blue field and creatures floating in it. According to the museum’s record the work was given in 1976 by Nina Kandinsky, the painter’s widow. One more thing is worth knowing: the canvas is not in Paris at the moment. According to the museum’s record it is on loan to the Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome from 15 September 2026 to 14 February 2027, for an exhibition titled Kandinsky. Anyone who wants to see the original has until the middle of February 2027, in Rome.

What does the painting mean?

The museum record offers no reading of the scene, so we invent none. What can be said is what the colour does: the single blue ground takes away every support – no ground, no horizon, no shadow – and so the small creatures float. In Concerning the Spiritual in Art Kandinsky wrote that light blue sounds like a flute, darker blue like a cello and the deepest like an organ; blue is for him the colour that calls the viewer towards the infinite and the purely spiritual. The work does not illustrate that, but the title and the ground point the same way: a space without weight, in which the forms are not described but sound.

Where does this work stand among the others?

Sky Blue was painted in France, in the last period, the one called Parisian. The forms are no longer circles and triangles as in the Bauhaus years but soft, organic bodies that recall creatures under a microscope. Compare this canvas with earlier works in our range – with Composition VI, where the masses tip over one another, or with Composition VII, dense with overlapping shapes – and you can see how quiet the painter’s language has become. From the same late years we also offer Dominant Curve, where the same creatures appear at a larger size.

How is our hand-painted version made?

This is a canvas painting made with a brush and oil paint, not with a printer: a Kandinsky reproduction in oil keeps its blue for years, because paint does not fade the way a print does. The blue ground comes first, laid on in several thin layers so that the shift from lighter below to denser above stays soft – that shift is what makes the work airy, and it is where a hand-painted surface shows. Only then does the painter draw the individual creatures and carry them through to the last dot. In the first photograph our finished canvas stands in a blue frame on the easel in our studio, with the shelves of frame samples behind it. The fourth photograph is a close-up of the upper left corner, showing the frame profile and the weave of the canvas under the paint. The fifth is a macro of the pink creature with the chequered head, where you can see that the dots, strokes and edges are painted by hand rather than printed. Because everything is done by hand, every hand-painted copy is unique and no two are quite the same.

Which size for which wall?

If you are unsure: 73 x 100 cm, one to one with the original. 60 x 80 cm is a rewarding painting for the living room beside a window or above a chest of drawers, and 80 x 110 cm for the wall behind a sofa. The smaller 40 x 55 and 50 x 70 cm sizes suit a hallway, a bedroom or an office, where the wall is narrow. The larger 100 x 140, 120 x 160 and 150 x 210 cm are for tall walls, stairwells and open-plan rooms; there the small creatures grow into figures you can see from across the room. Because the work is upright, it does best on a wall that is taller than it is wide.

Custom size, stretcher and frame

If none of the eight sizes fits your wall, we paint the work to your measurements and keep the upright proportions of the original; that is our made-to-measure painting. Like all our paintings on canvas, this copy arrives stretched on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang. For the frame, use our 3D app: it shows every one of our frame profiles on this motif, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood – the app is only for choosing the frame. In our photographs the canvas sits in a blue frame, but that is one profile among the ones you can choose. If you want to see how the work will look on your own wall, that is our separate room-visualisation service.

Delivery and guarantee

Every copy is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size. We ship it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose one, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve, and every order is covered by our returns policy. You will find the whole range in our Wassily Kandinsky gallery, and our article on Wassily Kandinsky tells the story of his life.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original?

In the Centre Pompidou in Paris, inventory number AM 1976-862, from Nina Kandinsky’s gift of 1976. According to the museum’s record the canvas is on loan in Rome until 14 February 2027.

What does the painting show?

Nothing figurative: about fourteen invented creatures, made of lines, dots and patches of colour, floating on a pale blue ground.

Is Bleu de ciel the same work as Sky Blue?

Yes. Bleu de ciel, Sky Blue and Himmelblau are titles of the same 1940 canvas.

Is this a print?

No. It is an oil painting reproduction made by hand on canvas; you can see and feel the brushstrokes.

Which size should I choose?

For a living room, 60 x 80 or 80 x 110 cm; 73 x 100 cm matches the original, and the size guide above covers other walls.

Can I have a size that is not listed?

Yes, we paint to measure and keep the upright proportions of the original.

How is it delivered?

Stretched on a stretcher, and framed if you chose a frame, within 15 to 45 days of your approving the photograph of the finished work.

What is the painting about, in one sentence?

Lightness: a blue field with no ground and no horizon, in which small invented creatures float.

Is the original for sale, and what is it worth?

No. The canvas belongs to the public collection of the Centre Pompidou and is not for sale; a hand-painted canvas is the only way to have it at home.

How high should I hang it?

The centre of the work at eye level, about 145–150 cm from the floor; above a sofa, 15–25 cm above the backrest.

Does it work as a gift?

Yes, for someone who loves modern art, and for a child’s room too, it is a cheerful choice. If you would rather let them choose, there is a gift voucher.

• Subject: about fourteen small invented creatures on a pale blue ground – 1940
• Original: 73 x 100 cm, oil on canvas, Centre Pompidou, Paris (inv. AM 1976-862)
• Ours: hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes from 40 x 55 to 150 x 210 cm, stretched and framed on request
• Worth knowing: the work is on loan to the Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome until 14 February 2027