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
Dreamy Improvisation by Wassily Kandinsky: Introduction
Across Dreamy Improvisation, thin black lines thread through floating colour. Blue, red, green and ochre are strong but not packed into a firm scene; pale ground seems to breathe between them. A dark shape leans over a large blue area near the centre, while short marks scatter toward the edges. Kandinsky painted the work in 1913. The Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen owns the 130.5 × 130.5 cm oil on canvas, inventory 14091, in its modern-art collection associated with Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne. The German title is Träumerische Improvisation. [1].
The word “dreamy” can mislead if it is taken to mean that the artist merely transcribed a dream or painted without thought. The owning museum stresses that Kandinsky did not treat abstract pictures as immediate records of private mental states. He sought relationships among colour and shape, using harmony and dissonance in a way he compared with music. The canvas's apparent freedom is therefore a carefully shaped visual experience, even where its forms resist naming. [1].
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 title:Wassily Kandinsky, Träumerische Improvisation (Dreamy Improvisation).
- Date:1913, according to the owning collection.
- Medium and size:Oil on canvas, 130.5 × 130.5 cm in the owner record.
- Collection:Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Sammlung Moderne Kunst, Munich, inventory 14091; associated with the Pinakothek der Moderne.
- Visual character:Thin calligraphic lines cross open colour patches and a light ground; a blue area, dark central form and bright red marks act as points of concentration.
- Early exhibitions:Listed in a scholarly exhibition study at Dresden in January 1914 and Amsterdam in May–June 1914.
- Collection route:Ida Bienert's Dresden collection by 1919; inherited by her heirs in 1965; acquired by the Bavarian collection in 1969.
- Different objects:Lenbachhaus holds two 1913 preparatory works related to the painting, not the finished oil.
Where this work sits in Kandinsky’s career
The Blue Rider
1903Composition VII
1913Composition VIII
1923Several Circles
1926Sky Blue
1940Contents
- Lines moving through an open field
- What “dreamy” can and cannot explain
- Two studies in another collection
- Early circulation and the Bienert collection
- Frequently asked questions
- References
Lines moving through an open field
At first, the light ground can seem to hold the painting loosely together. Colour gathers in patches rather than filling every interval. A broad blue shape near the lower middle is edged and crossed by dark strokes. A dense black passage rises above it, next to a red circle-like patch. High on the right, strong blue and red forms sit amid finer looping lines. At the upper left, green carries several quick-looking dark marks. These are descriptions of visible relationships in the owner's reproduction, not a map of people or objects hidden in the paint. [1].
The lines do not behave alike. Some are short, slanting dashes; others are long, thin arcs or crossing strokes. Several seem to skim over the coloured areas, while others disappear into darker paint. Their changing weight gives the eye a route across the canvas without building a single contour around a recognisable figure. The Lenbachhaus, discussing Kandinsky's paintings of 1913–14, describes fine calligraphic lines taking on a life of their own against blurred colour grounds, and names Dreamy Improvisation among those works. That period description closely fits the surface here. [3]; [1].
The square format gives no obvious direction of travel. Instead, the largest masses are slightly off centre, and thinner marks carry movement outward. A pale area near the top can appear spacious, yet it is broken by red, green and black. In the lower half, yellow and ochre passages mix with a stronger blue. The eye can linger on a compact black form, then follow a much more delicate stroke toward the edge. This difference in scale is part of the layered quality the owning collection emphasises. [1].
What “dreamy” can and cannot explain
The owner relates a memory Kandinsky told about looking at one of his paintings sideways in 1909–10. Without recognising its objects, he saw forms and colours as if released from the subject. This story helps explain his interest in non-objective painting, but it is not a report of how the 1913 canvas was made. It does not identify a dream that this picture depicts. The title invites an effect of loosened, shifting perception; the forms and colours on the surface must still do the work of producing it. [1].
The museum's account also sets a limit on a purely psychological reading. Kandinsky used words associated with inward life and the subconscious, yet the owner says his abstractions were not direct psychographic notes. In its interpretation, colour and form are tuned like sounds, sometimes consonant and sometimes in tension. That musical analogy can be tested visually: a strong blue patch answers another blue at a different scale, while sharp black lines cut through softer, hazier colour. The result is not a diagram of music; it is a painting whose parts interact across the canvas. [1].
“Improvisation” need not mean the absence of preparation either. Surviving works on paper related to this canvas show that Kandinsky examined its forms in other materials. The title still marks a difference from a fixed landscape view. A viewer can appreciate the work's apparent spontaneity while recognising its deliberate arrangement and the evidence of preparatory work. [2]; [1].
Two studies in another collection
The Lenbachhaus in Munich holds an autumn 1913 design for Träumerische Improvisation, inventory GMS 444. It combines watercolour, ink and pencil on paper mounted to cardboard and measures 52.3 × 45.2 cm. Its reverse inscription identifies it as a design for the painting and includes Gabriele Münter's marks of title and ownership. The explicit inscription makes the relationship more than a resemblance between abstract shapes. The sheet entered the Lenbachhaus through the Gabriele Münter Foundation gift of 1957. [2].
The same museum also holds a separate 1913 ink-on-paper detail study, GMS 404, with a related title. It is neither the large coloured design nor the finished oil. Its record does not give the extensive inscription found on GMS 444. Distinguishing the three works matters: two preparatory sheets belong to the Lenbachhaus, while the 130.5 cm square painting belongs to the Bavarian State Painting Collections. A photograph of one of the studies cannot stand in for a reproduction of the oil. [2]; [1].
The studies offer a way to think about process without inventing a step-by-step account. Paper, graphite, ink and watercolour allow different marks from those of oil paint on canvas. The large design's documented connection suggests Kandinsky was testing composition before or around the painting's making. It cannot prove that every final colour was planned there, nor that the painting followed the sheet exactly. Those questions require a direct comparison of the objects. [2].
Early circulation and the Bienert collection
A study of Kandinsky's exhibition history lists Träumerische Improvisation, oil catalogue number 478, at the Expressionistische Ausstellung / Die neue Malerei held at Galerie Ernst Arnold in Dresden in January 1914. It also lists the work at the Third International Jury-Free Exhibition in Amsterdam in May–June 1914. These are documented early public showings soon after its 1913 date. They show the picture circulating beyond Kandinsky's studio; the listing alone does not explain how individual visitors understood it. [4].
The owning museum's provenance places the painting with Ida Bienert in Dresden by 1919 and through 1965. Her heirs then held it until 14 July 1969, when the Bavarian State Painting Collections acquired it with support from the organisation now called PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne. The support group's own acquisition page confirms the 1969 purchase and inventory number 14091. These records establish a collection route without requiring a guess about precisely when Bienert first obtained it or every location in the years between exhibitions. [1]; [5].
The PIN page gives the painting's height as 130 cm, whereas the owning museum's current object record gives 130.5 cm. Both give a width of 130.5 cm and identify the same title, date, collection and inventory. The small measuring difference should not be turned into evidence of two paintings. This article uses the owner's number and names its source. [1]; [5].
Dreamy Improvisation is a specific, large 1913 canvas rather than a vague symbol of abstract art. Its thin lines, floating colour and intervals of light ground create a shifting field. The documented studies show related work on paper; the exhibition and collection records give the painting a history beyond its surface. Kandinsky's title may suggest an inward state, but the lasting experience is made through the relationships he painted. [1]; [2].
Kandinsky artworks directory
Frequently Asked Questions
The owning Bavarian collection dates Träumerische Improvisation to 1913. [1].
It belongs to the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, in the modern-art collection associated with Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne, inventory 14091. The online display indicator has varied, so check with the museum before visiting. [1].
It is oil on canvas, 130.5 × 130.5 cm in the owner's record. The supporting PIN acquisition page gives the height as 130 cm. [1]; [5].
The owner does not identify a specific dream depicted here. Its essay stresses that Kandinsky's abstract paintings were not simple transcriptions of mental states; colours and forms were deliberately related, often by analogy with music. [1].
Yes. The Lenbachhaus owns a 1913 watercolour, ink and pencil design inscribed for the painting, GMS 444, and a separate ink detail study, GMS 404. Neither is the finished oil. [2]; [2].
The owner traces it through Ida Bienert's collection and her heirs. The Bavarian State Painting Collections acquired it on 14 July 1969 with support from the group now known as PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne. [1].
Discussion
What do you notice first in Dreamy Improvisation? 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 thin black line most changes the balance of the larger colour patches?
How does the Lenbachhaus design change what you assume about the word Improvisation?
What does the painting itself support about dreaminess, and what remains a title-led association?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below and tell us which part of the artwork led you to it.
References
- Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Träumerische Improvisation, inventory 14091. View source.
- Lenbachhaus, design for Träumerische Improvisation, GMS 444 and detail study GMS 404. View source 1 · View source 2.
- Lenbachhaus, Unnamed Improvisation essay comparing 1913–14 line and colour. View source.
- Christina Bartosch, Exhibiting Abstraction, exhibition addendum. View source.
- PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne, acquisition record for the painting. View source.
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