Abstract
On the hundredth anniversary of the first abstract painting of modern times, the rationale for abstract art offered by a pioneer of the genre, Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), in his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911), is critically examined. The principal influences on his art and thought are discussed; in particular, what Kandinsky intended by the word ‘spiritual’. Theories about Kandinsky’s possible synaesthesia are reviewed and the historical context of his world-view adumbrated. Finally, the article offers a preliminary sketch as to what an ‘abstract’ theology (had theologians of the day followed Kandinsky’s lead) might have looked like.
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