by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
At Rest ( Komposition “Ruhe”) by Wassily Kandinsky: Introduction
An arc of fine white lines rises over upright shapes on a dark ground. Beneath it, triangles, half-circles and narrow bars stand above a long pale strip. Kandinsky called the painting Komposition “Ruhe”—a composition associated with rest or quiet. The title does not make every shape motionless: the curved lines seem to travel, while the broad horizontal base gives them a place to settle. The work dates from 1928, during Kandinsky's Bauhaus years. A frequently repeated 1942 date is contradicted by a museum exhibition catalogue that reproduces the same image and gives the 1928 date, medium and catalogue number. [1].
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Watch on YouTubeAt a Glance
- Artist:Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944).
- Documented title:Komposition “Ruhe”; “At Rest,” “Repose” and “Composition ‘Silence’” are English renderings in circulation.
- Date:1928.
- Medium and size:oil on canvas, 52 × 79 cm.
- Catalogue:Hans K. Roethel, Kandinsky paintings catalogue raisonné, no. 860, as cited by the exhibition catalogue.
- Historical holding:Berlin Nationalgalerie, before Nazi confiscation.
- Present ownership:not established from the cited historical catalogue.
Where this work sits in Kandinsky’s career
The Blue Rider
1903Composition VII
1913Composition VIII
1923Several Circles
1926Sky Blue
1940Contents
- How the composition holds together
- A Bauhaus painting, not a late Paris work
- What happened to the painting?
- Return to the image
- Frequently asked questions
- References
How the composition holds together
The painting can first look like a collection of simple, almost architectural elements set against black. Tall pale rectangles stand at left and right. The right-hand one is notably higher. Along the bottom, a wide light band stretches across the image, interrupted by small steps and changes of level. These steady vertical and horizontal forms give the picture a measured rhythm.
Above them, a different rhythm takes over. Several thin arcs rise from near the centre and bend toward the upper right. At the far left, rounded pale forms gather above a narrow ledge. A smaller half-circle hangs below that group, crossed by tightly spaced vertical lines. Another half-circle sits alone near the top right. The curves seem to hover over the rectilinear shapes, while the rows of fine strokes make quietness feel carefully counted rather than empty.
Near the centre, a peach-coloured triangle points upward beside a larger green triangle. They are warmer and brighter than most of the surrounding pale shapes. A small cross and short bars add finer accents. Their placement keeps the centre from turning into a perfectly symmetrical arrangement: the parts answer one another across the dark field, but no side simply copies the other.
The black ground is not just a backdrop. It gives the pale shapes clear edges and makes the distances between them visible. The tall rectangle on the right has room around its top; the floating half-circle is separated from it by a gap. The arcs remain legible because darkness lies between their fine lines. The long strip at the bottom in turn prevents the floating forms from seeming wholly unanchored. Looking back and forth between line, interval and base is one way to feel the balance implied by Ruhe.
These observations describe the visible picture rather than a hidden town, stage set or musical score. Some shapes can suggest buildings or a horizon, but the catalogue does not identify a depicted place. Kandinsky gives us visual relationships to explore without requiring each element to stand for a known object.
A Bauhaus painting, not a late Paris work
The 1928 date places Komposition “Ruhe” in Kandinsky's period of teaching at the Bauhaus in Dessau. His work then often gave lines, angles, circles and colour fields strong structural roles. The Guggenheim's Kandinsky teaching materials describe his Bauhaus attention to geometric form and the relationships among basic visual elements. This oil uses those concerns without reducing the result to a diagram. Its small pale marks, subtly varied colour and carefully spaced gaps remain painterly decisions. Compared with the broader field of circles and lines in Composition VIII, Ruhe gathers relatively few elements around a low horizontal base and a single family of rising arcs. [2]; [3].
The incorrect 1942 label changes how a reader might understand the image. By then, Kandinsky had long since left Germany and was working in France. Treating this particular painting as a 1940s work would obscure its connection to his Dessau investigations and place it on the wrong side of the Bauhaus closure and his forced departure from Germany. The object-specific evidence is unusually strong: the exhibition catalogue reproduces the same composition and lists 1928, oil on canvas, its measurements and Roethel number 860. [1].
The title and forms can also be considered against Kandinsky's interest in how visual arrangements might produce an effect. A broad horizontal may seem stabilising, while the ascending arcs keep the eye moving. Yet there is no need to assign a universal emotional response to each shape. The painting's “rest” is an achieved relationship among unequal parts, and viewers may feel the tension within that relationship differently.
What happened to the painting?
The exhibition catalogue records that Komposition “Ruhe” had been acquired by the Berlin Nationalgalerie. Under the Nazi campaign against modern art, it was confiscated from that collection and shown in the notorious 1937 Entartete Kunst exhibition. Its inclusion there is a documented event in the painting's history, not a judgement about its artistic worth. The same source assigns the work Nazi inventory number 16073. [3].
The painting's earlier museum ownership should not be mistaken for its current location. The catalogue named the Debra Weese-Mayer and Robert N. Mayer collection when it was published. That is historical provenance; it does not prove who holds the oil today. The loss from a public museum, its display in a propaganda exhibition and its subsequent circulation are distinct stages that deserve to be kept clear. [3].
This history also helps explain why an artwork can be well documented yet confusingly described. A later reproduction may carry a simplified English title, a wrong date or an outdated owner. The strongest identification here comes from the catalogue's exact reproduction of the image together with its object data.
Return to the image
Start at the right-hand pale half-circle and follow the sequence of arcs downward and left. The lines seem to lead toward the two coloured triangles, yet they do not end in one decisive point. Then look along the broad base, where the small step breaks an otherwise calm horizontal. This sequence makes the tension between movement and stability more apparent than a quick glance at the black background might suggest.
The composition is quiet in a particular, constructed way. Its forms are spread out enough to have breathing room, but linked closely enough to feel related. That balance is why the German title is worth retaining alongside its English translations. It gives the viewer a question to test against the painting: how can lines and shapes keep moving while the whole image feels at rest?
Kandinsky artworks directory
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The museum exhibition catalogue reproduces this exact work, identifies it as Komposition “Ruhe” and dates it to 1928. The 1942 date on several later websites does not match that object record. [1].
The catalogue lists oil on canvas, measuring 52 × 79 cm. It also gives Roethel catalogue number 860. [3].
The German word can be rendered as rest, quiet or stillness. The exhibition catalogue translates the full title Komposition “Ruhe” as Composition “Silence”. “At Rest” is another English title for the same pictured work. [3].
The catalogue says the work was acquired by that museum and later confiscated by the Nazis. It named a private collection at the time of publication. The cited evidence does not establish its present owner. [3].
Discussion
What do you notice first in At Rest (Composition “Ruhe”)? Share a close observation or a question about the evidence for this work.
Comments are for comparing what we see and what the cited sources establish.
Reader Insights
Which arcs or straight lines give this composition its sense of pause or motion?
How does the documented 1928 date change the way you place this work in Kandinsky’s career?
What further evidence could clarify the work’s ownership after its 1937 confiscation?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below and tell us which part of the artwork led you to it.
References
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Harry N. Abrams, Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany, figure 242 and Kandinsky essay (PDF page 268); artwork entry (PDF page 272). View source.
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Kandinsky teaching materials, Bauhaus context. View source.
- Degenerate Art catalogue. View source.
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