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
Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt by Wassily Kandinsky: Introduction
A shaded lane leads toward a row of brightly coloured buildings. Blue, purple and orange strokes cross the near ground; a dense green tree fills much of the upper left; a tall wall closes the right edge. The houses ahead remain recognisable, but their roofs and facades are built with blocks of colour rather than patient architectural detail. The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza identifies this painting as Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt, catalogued 1908, oil on cardboard, 64.5 × 50.2 cm. It belongs to the Carmen Thyssen Collection, inventory CTB.1977.68. [1].
The museum can place the viewpoint unusually precisely. Peter Vergo, writing for its collection record, identifies Murnau's main street seen from a shaded side lane beside the Griesbräu Inn. The exact corner has changed little enough for him to recognise the place from which Kandinsky looked. That documented location is more informative than the inherited page's vague account of an attractive Bavarian town. It also distinguishes this work from Kandinsky's Houses in Munich, a different 1908 picture belonging to the Von der Heydt Museum. [1]; [4].
Watch: Wassily Kandinsky
Five museum videos about Kandinsky’s art, sources of inspiration and the relationship between colour and music.
Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle
Curator Megan Fontanella introduces Kandinsky and the Guggenheim collection.
Watch on YouTubeAt a Glance
- Artist and date:Wassily Kandinsky, catalogued 1908; the painting itself was not dated by Kandinsky.
- Owner's title:Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt. The title is a later catalogue name, not an artist's original title.
- Medium and dimensions:Oil on cardboard, 64.5 × 50.2 cm.
- Collection:Carmen Thyssen Collection, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, inventory CTB.1977.68.
- Place shown:Murnau's main street, from a shaded side lane alongside the Griesbräu Inn, according to the museum's curator.
- Date evidence:Style and a 1908 Munich newspaper found wrapped around the work support the museum's attribution.
- Image:Existing site reproduction retained. The owner's high-resolution image has conditions and separate photograph-rights requirements, so no replacement or guide image was sourced from it.
Where this work sits in Kandinsky’s career
The Blue Rider
1903Composition VII
1913Composition VIII
1923Several Circles
1926Sky Blue
1940Contents
- From shadow into the street
- A title and date built from evidence
- The first Murnau summer
- The work in the collection
- Frequently asked questions
- References
From shadow into the street
The picture begins in shade. The path is not a neutral brown passage leading mechanically toward a vanishing point. Kandinsky spreads blue-green, violet, crimson and orange over the near surface, turning it into a broad, active part of the painting. The lane narrows toward the houses, yet the large coloured strokes keep drawing attention back to the foreground. At the left, a tree is cropped by the edge of the canvas; its greens are broken by very dark shapes. At the right, a vertical wall creates another abrupt boundary. Together they frame a bright opening ahead. [1].
The facades beyond the lane sit close together. A vivid yellow surround to one lower window meets blue and purple areas around it. Above, warm roof tiles rise in uneven bands. The tree's green canopy partly hides the left-hand buildings. This overlap makes the view feel observed from a real side street, while the saturated colour keeps the architecture from becoming a careful survey. The buildings are still legible, but one can also read the central zone as adjacent patches of warm and cool paint. [1].
The old page described the picture as simply “positive and upbeat.” That mood may be one response, but the colour is more complicated. The foreground is deep and shadowed, and the houses are compressed beneath a dark blue upper area. Warm reds, yellows and oranges break through the cooler field rather than covering everything. Peter Vergo notes a Fauve echo in Kandinsky's 1908 painting after his Paris visits, while also describing this view as more compact and darker than an all-over blaze of colour. The contrast between shade and vivid frontages is therefore central to the work, not a detail to be smoothed into one cheerful tone. [1].
A title and date built from evidence
The title has a history. Vergo explains that Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt was not Kandinsky's own title; it is the name used in the catalogue raisonné by Hans Konrad Roethel and Jean K. Benjamin. The painting is also absent from the artist's handlists of major works. A present-day caption should therefore identify the accepted catalogue title without pretending it was written on the object by Kandinsky. The place itself is supported separately by the recognisable street view. [1].
Kandinsky did not date the work on its surface. The museum still catalogues it as 1908, based on the rapid stylistic development visible in that period. Vergo adds a concrete clue: after the painting had lain unnoticed in Kandinsky's last apartment at Neuilly-sur-Seine, his widow found it wrapped in a Munich newspaper dated 1908. The wrapper is not the same as a signed date or proof of the exact day of painting. It supports the museum's conclusion alongside visual comparison. That distinction makes the 1908 date stronger and more honestly explained than a bare year with no account of its basis. [1].
Vergo considers it likely that Kandinsky worked outdoors, perhaps in a single session, because of the picture's scale and free paint handling. “Likely” matters: neither the medium nor the visible brushwork by itself documents precisely where the easel stood while every stroke was made, or how long the artist spent there. The museum's identified street corner tells us what is depicted. The manner of execution suggests a direct encounter with it, while leaving the exact working sequence open. [1].
The first Murnau summer
Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter had travelled widely in the years before 1908, including time in Paris during 1906–07 and a winter in Berlin. They returned to Munich in summer 1908 and visited Murnau together in mid-June. Vergo's museum essay places the painting among the subjects that Kandinsky found in and around the Bavarian town. Murnau's streets, surrounding landscape and changing light gave him material that he would return to as his art changed. [1].
Münter was an artist in her own right, as were Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin, who also worked in Murnau. The old page says Kandinsky bought a house there in 1909. The museum's account is specific: Münter bought the house in August 1909, encouraged by Kandinsky. This matters because attributing her purchase to him erases a concrete action from her history. The shared setting can be discussed without turning her work and decisions into an appendix to his. [1]; [3].
The painting predates the Blue Rider group's formation in 1911. It is still a picture of a named place, with houses, a lane and a tree. The movement toward abstraction lies in how the observed scene is edited and coloured. Vergo describes colour as pressing toward independence from the model: façades can be yellow, blue and violet without their precise local hues being the main concern. The street remains a place one could visit, but its pattern of colour can hold a viewer even when the buildings are not being catalogued one by one. [1]; [2].
The work in the collection
The original is in the Carmen Thyssen Collection at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, with inventory CTB.1977.68. The museum's online record may show a room, but display locations can change. The stable facts for this page are its collection, medium, dimensions, accepted title and the well-supported date. [1].
The existing image on this site gives enough detail to trace the lane, tree and façades. Thyssen's image terms distinguish private or educational access from other reuse and require separate treatment of photograph and reproduction rights. Since those conditions are not a straightforward licence for a new site or free guide image, the larger museum file was not taken. This article and the planned guide entry can direct the reader to the owner's collection page for the original record while using the existing site image where already present. [1].
Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt is most rewarding when both halves of its identity remain visible. It is a particular view from a known Murnau side street, not an invented town. It is also a tightly compressed play of shadow, intense surfaces and repeated edges. Its later catalogue title and inferred date are well documented; the canvas remains open to close looking without assigning it an unrecorded story or a single prescribed feeling. [1].
Kandinsky artworks directory
Frequently Asked Questions
The museum catalogues it as 1908. Kandinsky did not date the painting himself; stylistic evidence and a 1908 Munich newspaper found wrapped around it support that date. [1].
It is oil on cardboard, 64.5 × 50.2 cm, according to the owning museum. [1].
Curator Peter Vergo identifies Murnau's main street as seen from a shaded side lane next to the Griesbräu Inn. The viewpoint can still be recognised. [1].
No. The museum says the painting has no original Kandinsky title. Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt is the name used in the Roethel and Benjamin catalogue raisonné. [1].
Gabriele Münter bought it in August 1909, encouraged by Kandinsky. The inherited page's statement that Kandinsky bought it was incorrect. [1].
Discussion
What do you notice first in Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt? 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
How do the shaded lane and bright facades affect each other?
What does the documented Griesbräu viewpoint add to your comparison with Houses in Munich?
How does the 1908 newspaper support the date without making it an autograph date?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below and tell us which part of the artwork led you to it.
References
- Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt, CTB.1977.68, with essay by Peter Vergo. View source.
- Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Kandinsky artist biography. View source.
- Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Gabriele Münter artist record. View source.
- Von der Heydt Museum, Brücke und Blauer Reiter listing of Häuser in München. View source.
%20Wassily%20Kandinsky.jpg)
