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
The Last Judgement (Jüngster Tag) by Wassily Kandinsky: Introduction
Black lines rush across flashes of yellow, blue, red and white in Wassily Kandinsky's Jüngster Tag, usually translated as The Last Judgement. The title names an immense biblical event, but the small work does not arrange a clear row of figures for easy recognition. Its colour and movement make the event felt before its details can be counted. The Centre Pompidou records it as a reverse-glass painting, made with water-based paint and India ink beneath glass, measuring 33.6 × 45.3 cm. It assigns the date [1912], and the museum number is AM 81-65-34. [1].
That material identification is essential. This is neither an oil canvas nor the later Judgement Day woodcut in Kandinsky's book Klänge. Looking through the painted glass changes the relationship between bright colour, dark line and the frame surrounding them. The owning museum's educational account reads the work as an apocalyptic surge of yellow and blue, linked to Kandinsky's interest in musical dissonance. Its interpretation gives a way to approach the image without claiming that every dark line is a named angel, trumpet or person. [2]; [3].
Watch: Wassily Kandinsky
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Watch on YouTubeAt a Glance
- Artist and owner title:Vassily Kandinsky, Jüngster Tag (The Last Judgement; the Centre Pompidou also gives the French Le Jour du Jugement dernier).
- Date:[1912] in the owner record, an assigned date rather than an unqualified inscription on the face.
- Medium and size:Water-based paint and India ink under glass, 33.6 × 45.3 cm.
- Collection:Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, AM 81-65-34, acquired through Nina Kandinsky's 1981 bequest.
- Visible character:Yellow passages meet blue, red and white; black curves and short marks break across the image.
- Material context:Kandinsky worked with the Bavarian practice of reverse-glass painting and painted the wooden frame of this object, according to the museum's educational study.
- Different work:The 1913 Judgement Day from Klänge in MoMA is a woodcut, not this glass painting.
Where this work sits in Kandinsky’s career
The Blue Rider
1903Composition VII
1913Composition VIII
1923Several Circles
1926Sky Blue
1940Contents
- A crowded field of colour and line
- Painting on the reverse of glass
- Judgement, music and dissonance
- Other works with the same theme
- Frequently asked questions
- References
A crowded field of colour and line
The composition has no single quiet centre. A broad yellow area presses into the middle, while blue and pale violet passages open around it. Dark lines curl, cross or dart toward the edges. Some shapes suggest fragments of bodies or structures, but they do not stay separate long enough to form an orderly stage. The title asks us to think of a last judgement; the painted surface gives an experience of disruption and energy. Those are different kinds of evidence, and they need not be forced into a one-to-one diagram. [1].
Near the top, concentrated red and orange break through the cooler areas. Below them, a black curve can work as a contour for one moment and an independent stroke the next. The picture's small scale makes that shift striking: a viewer standing close can follow one fine mark, then be pulled back by a large patch of colour. The arrangement is busy without being uniformly dense. White intervals leave room for yellow and blue to collide with particular force. [1]; [2].
The Centre Pompidou's educational essay hears the picture almost as a burst of sound. It points to dominant yellow and its contrast with blue, relating them to the biblical trumpets that announce Judgement and to Kandinsky's comparison of colour with musical effects. This is a museum reading of the whole; it does not establish that a particular yellow mark is a literal trumpet. The black lines and hard colour differences can support a sense of alarm, while remaining painterly elements in their own right. [2].
The image can therefore hold a biblical title and a degree of abstraction together. Kandinsky does not need to erase all reference to create an unfamiliar experience. A judgement scene can be signalled through a word, an atmosphere and hints of form. The viewer may look for figures, then become aware that colours and lines make the stronger claim on attention. The museum's account of this period connects such visual tensions with Kandinsky's developing interest in composition beyond straightforward description. [2].
Painting on the reverse of glass
The owner calls the object a fixé-sous-verre: paint and ink were applied beneath a glass surface, so the picture is viewed through the pane. This is materially different from seeing brushwork on the exposed surface of a canvas. The Centre Pompidou's educational account says Kandinsky became interested in Bavarian reverse-glass painting during the summer of 1908, then made 33 works in the medium between 1909 and 1913. It describes his interest in the brilliance and optical effects the material could produce. [1]; [2].
Reverse-glass painting belongs to a folk-art tradition that Kandinsky and his circle took seriously. The museum says these pictures were framed for protection and that Kandinsky also painted this one's wooden frame. The frame is therefore not merely a replaceable border supplied later by a collector. It contributes to the made object and its presentation. The online image is useful for studying colour and line, but the physical painting includes the reflective glass and the artist's work on the surround. [2].
The record lists water-based paint and India ink, not oil. The ink helps explain why dark marks can remain so emphatic against light colour, although a digital photograph alone cannot prove the order in which each mark was laid down on the reverse. The glass technique requires planning about what will appear nearest the viewer, but this particular work's exact working sequence is not documented in the owner record. It is more reliable to describe the materials and visible results than to invent a step-by-step studio demonstration. [1].
Judgement, music and dissonance
The biblical Last Judgement traditionally involves revelation, division and final reckoning. Kandinsky's title brings that field of meaning into the work. The Centre Pompidou's essay relates its bright yellow to the sounding of apocalyptic trumpets and sets yellow against blue as a visual shock. It also connects the painting with Kandinsky's correspondence with the composer Arnold Schoenberg, particularly his interest in dissonance. These links are the museum's historical interpretation, grounded in his writings and the image, rather than a claim that the glass picture illustrates a specific musical score. [2].
Music is useful here because it suggests relationships that unfold without a fixed pictorial story. A sharp yellow area can meet a blue one; a black stroke can cut through both; a red accent can change the balance. One does not have to identify a literal instrument to recognise those tensions. The painting's energy emerges from contrast, interruption and movement across the pane. Its title lets these effects carry an apocalyptic mood while leaving many forms open. [1]; [2].
The date deserves similar care. The owner places 1912 in brackets, indicating an assigned date in its catalogue rather than an exact day recorded on the face. The record does list the signature “VK”. It does not claim a calendar date inscribed beside it. Calling the work “about 1912” or noting the bracketed museum date accurately conveys what the public record can support. [1].
Other works with the same theme
Kandinsky returned to ideas of judgement and upheaval across media. The Museum of Modern Art lists Judgement Day (Jüngster Tag) in the 1913 illustrated book Klänge as a woodcut. Its object number and materials belong to a printed page, not to this [1912] reverse-glass painting. Their related titles make a comparison possible; they do not make the works interchangeable or establish that one is a direct copy of the other. [3]; [1].
The Lenbachhaus also discusses Judgement imagery in connection with its separate Allerheiligen I of 1911. Its essay says Kandinsky referred to that other painting with the words Jüngster Tag and relates it to a different glass work. Those intersecting titles and motifs can make online identifications treacherous. The safest anchor for the picture on this page is the Centre Pompidou's AM 81-65-34, together with its dimensions, materials and image. [4]; [1].
The Centre Pompidou acquired this glass work through Nina Kandinsky's 1981 bequest. Its record places it in the museum's graphic-art collection area, even while classifying its domain as painting. That catalogue arrangement does not change what the object is: a small painted glass work with a designed frame. It is precisely the kind of object for which material and inventory information matter as much as a familiar title. [1].
The Last Judgement holds a large subject in a modest object. Its painted glass, dark ink and sharp colours transform biblical expectation into an experience of visual collision. The owner records tell us what Kandinsky made; the museum's essay offers a carefully attributed reading of its apocalyptic sound and colour. Together they let us approach the work without mistaking it for a canvas or for another Jüngster Tag. [1]; [2].
Kandinsky artworks directory
Frequently Asked Questions
The Centre Pompidou assigns Jüngster Tag the date [1912]. The brackets indicate a catalogue dating rather than a specific date inscribed on the work. [1].
No. It is water-based paint and India ink beneath glass, a reverse-glass painting measuring 33.6 × 45.3 cm. [1].
Jüngster Tag refers to the Last Judgement. The museum reads the work's forceful colour contrasts and yellow passages in relation to apocalyptic trumpets, without mapping every form to a literal figure. [2].
The Centre Pompidou's educational dossier says he painted this object's wooden frame. It also says the reverse-glass works were framed to protect them. [2].
No. MoMA's Judgement Day from Klänge is a 1913 woodcut from an illustrated book. The Centre Pompidou owns the separate [1912] glass painting, AM 81-65-34. [3]; [1].
It belongs to the Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, inventory AM 81-65-34. It entered through Nina Kandinsky's 1981 bequest; consult the museum for changing display information. [1].
Discussion
What do you notice first in The Last Judgement (Jüngster Tag)? 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
Where do the black lines first interrupt the yellow and blue areas?
How does viewing paint through glass differ from looking at the surface of a canvas?
How far can the museum’s apocalyptic reading guide you before individual forms remain uncertain?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below and tell us which part of the artwork led you to it.
References
- Centre Pompidou, Jüngster Tag, AM 81-65-34. View source.
- Centre Pompidou, English educational dossier on Kandinsky, including the reverse-glass work. View source.
- MoMA, separate Judgement Day woodcut from Klänge, 1913. View source.
- Lenbachhaus, separate Allerheiligen I and its Judgement motif. View source.
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