Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons)
Vasily Kandinsky (Born Moscow (formerly Russian Empire, now Russia), 1866; died Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 1944)
1913
View the original$24
Type
Size · in
Secure checkout · powered by Stripe
Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
In his 1912 book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Vasily Kandinsky made an analogy between music and painting as two means of abstraction, a radical mode of artmaking that freed color and line from their traditionally representational functions. Between 1910 and 1914 he produced “improvisations,” works he described as unconscious, spontaneous expressions. Kandinsky commented on Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons) in a letter to Arthur Jerome Eddy, a friend and collector from Chicago: “The cannons . . . could probably be explained by the constant war talk going on through the year [but] the true contents are what the spectator experiences while under the effect of the forms and color combinations of the picture.”
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 111 × 111.3 cm (43 11/16 × 43 13/16 in.)
Museum record · 1 owner · 26 exhibitions
Provenance
- Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920), Chicago, probably purchased from the artist, by 1920; by descent to his wife Lucy O. Eddy (1863-1931) and son Jerome O. Eddy (1891-1951), Chicago, 1920; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1931.
Exhibitions
- London, Royal Albert Hall, The London Salon of the Allied Artists’ Association, Ltd., July 1913.
- Chicago, Art Institute, Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of the Late Arthur Jerome Eddy, September 19-October 22, 1922 (color ill.).
- Chicago, Art Institute, The Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture, December 22, 1931-January 17, 1932.
- Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, An Exhibition of Literature & Poetry in Painting since 1850, January 24-February 14, 1933.
- Chicago, Art Institute, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cubism and Abstract Art, March 2-April 19, 1936.
- Rochester, N.Y., Memorial Art Gallery, Exhibition, November 1-30, 1938.
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Expressionism and Related Movements, January 26-February 28, 1939, no cat. New York, Nierendorf Gallery, Kandinsky, March 1941.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, Art in Progress: A Survey Prepared for the Fifteenth Anniversary of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May-September 1944, no cat. no., 221.
- New York, Museum of Non-Objective Painting, In Memory of Wassily Kandinsky, March 15-May 15, 1945.
- Milwaukee, Art Institute, Exhibition, 1945.
- Chicago, Arts Club, Wassily Kandinsky Memorial Exhibition, November 1945.
- Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Department of Fine Arts, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), April 11-May 12, 1946.
- Denver Art Museum, The Modern Artist and His World, March 6-April 27, 1949, no cat. no..
- Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Winterbotham Collection of 20th Century European Paintings (Texas State Fair), October 8-November 6, 1949.
- Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Good Design: An Exhibition of Home Furnishings Selected by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, for the Merchandise Mart, Chicago, January 12-November 1, 1950.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, German Art of the Twentieth Century, October 1-December 8, 1957; traveled to St. Louis, City Art Museum, January 8-February 24, 1958.
- Kansas City, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The Logic of Modern Art: An Exhibition Tracing the Evolution of Modern Painting from Cezanne to 1960: Les Fauves, Expressionism, Cubism, Non-objective Painting, Surrealism, Painting since World War II, January 19-February 26, 1961.
- New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Vasily Kandinsky, 1866-1944: A Retrospective Exhibition, January 15-February 15, 1963; traveled to San Francisco Museum of Art, March 1-April 1, 1963; Portland Art Museum, April 15-May 15, 1963; San Antonio, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, June 1-July 1, 1963; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, July 15-August 25, 1963; Baltimore Museum of Art, September 19-October 20, 1963; Columbus, Ohio, Gallery of Fine Arts, November 5-December 5, 1963; St. Louis, Mo., Washington University Art Gallery, December 22, 1963-January 6, 1964; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, February 5-March 5, 1964; Worcester Art Museum, March 20-April 20, 1964 (New York only).
- Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Kandinsky: The Improvisations, April 26-August 2, 1981.
- North Carolina Museum of Art, June 1-December 1, 1995.
- Venice, Palazzo Grassi, Espressionismo tedesco: arte e società, September 1997-January 1998 (color ill.).
- Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Das XX. Jahrhundert: ein Jahrhundert Kunst in Deutschland, September 4, 1999-January 9, 2000 (color ill.).
- London, Tate Modern, Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction, June 22-October 1, 2006 (color ill.), 219; traveled to Basel, Kunstmuseum, October 21, 2006-February 4, 2007.
- Munich, Staedtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Kandinsky: Absolute, Abstract, October 25, 2008–February 28, 2009.
- Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 6, 2013–Feb. 16, 2014, no cat. Museum of Art, Centennial Celebration, Aug. 27–Dec. 4, 2016.
