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
Romantic Landscape by Wassily Kandinsky: Introduction
Three small riders seem to rush downhill through Wassily Kandinsky's Romantic Landscape. A dark blue diagonal sweeps across the lower half of the painting, while a red sun hangs in a much lighter sky. An ochre form on the left and a dark green mass on the right give the moving figures a narrow passage between them. At first sight the scene is almost abstract: colour comes in broad, rapid strokes and the riders take time to find. The Lenbachhaus in Munich identifies the canvas as Romantische Landschaft, dated 1911, oil on canvas, 94.3 × 129 cm. [1].
The museum records “KANDINSKY 1911” at the lower right. That signature is important because its curatorial essay also cites a letter Kandinsky wrote in 1930 recalling a painting called Romantic Landscape from 1910. The current owner catalogue uses 1911, supported by the inscription on this object. The later memory enriches the title's history but should not quietly displace the museum's date. [1].
Annotated details in Romantic Landscape
Select a numbered point to examine three close views of the work.
123Select a number to reach its detail.
Details from ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE
Three close views of the work.
Left upright
A tall warm-toned form rises from the lower left.
Red sun
A small red disc punctuates the pale sky.
Dark foreground
A dense dark form gives weight to the lower right.
Reproduction from the linked collection record, CC0 1.0. View image source and terms.
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Watch on YouTubeAt a Glance
- Artist and documented title:Wassily Kandinsky, Romantische Landschaft (Romantic Landscape).
- Catalogue date:1911; the museum records the signature KANDINSKY 1911 at lower right.
- Medium and size:Oil on canvas, 94.3 × 129 cm.
- Collection:Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, inventory GMS 83; entered by gift in 1957 through the Gabriele Münter Foundation.
- Visible scene:Three riders on a descending diagonal, red sun, pale open ground, ochre rock-like form and dark green upright mass.
- Naming distinction:Kandinsky did not designate this canvas as an Impression or an Improvisation, according to the Lenbachhaus curatorial text.
- Date caution:A 1930 letter mentions a Romantic Landscape painted in 1910; the museum's object date remains 1911.
Where this work sits in Kandinsky’s career
The Blue Rider
1903Composition VII
1913Composition VIII
1923Several Circles
1926Sky Blue
1940Contents
- Annotated details
- Finding the riders
- A landscape without an exact address
- The title and its later recollection
- Object, collection and scale
- Frequently asked questions
- References
Finding the riders
The riders are neither outlined as clear portraits nor entirely hidden. They appear as a sequence of blue-green and reddish forms moving from the right toward the left across the dark diagonal. In a small reproduction they may look like mere coloured strokes. Once recognised, the curves of the horses and the clustered dark-red heads give the scene speed. The Lenbachhaus curatorial account identifies three riders and describes them as bursting out from dense colour. That object-specific reading helps viewers locate the action without claiming an exact story for the riders. [1].
The diagonal line beneath them is crucial. It gives the figures a direction and divides the pale space above from the more heavily marked lower area. Thin parallel strokes repeat that slant, so the movement seems to pass into the whole landscape. Yet the track is not a conventional road with a stable edge. It is made of several dark and blue strokes that seem to surge rather than sit still. Kandinsky lets an identifiable episode and a forceful painted gesture occupy the same place. [1].
At the left, a tall ochre form rises like a rock or steep bank. It narrows the route through the picture and gives the riders something to pass. The large dark green shape at the right makes a counterweight. Between these heavier forms, the centre remains remarkably open. Pale brushwork lets white and light blue breathe around the figures. The Lenbachhaus calls attention to this openness as well as the speed of the riders. Their movement feels stronger because it crosses a space that is not filled with equally dense objects. [1].
High above, the red-orange sun is a compact spot of intense colour. It is not rendered with the light effects of a conventional sunset. Dots, slashes and green-blue passages near the upper right break up the surrounding sky. They can feel like lively natural forces without needing to be catalogued as a specific kind of weather. The sun's warmth sets off the cooler rider forms and the dark green mass below. [1].
A landscape without an exact address
The title says Romantic Landscape, not Murnau, Munich or a named mountain. The image supplies a slope and two imposing side forms, but the museum's record does not map them to a particular real place. Its account calls the painting more than a pure landscape: the rider episode and the unusually open form give it a category of its own. A description of an exact site would add a certainty that the cited record does not supply. [1].
This distinction matters within Kandinsky's work around 1911. He made landscapes from observed settings and also paintings that used familiar motifs in freer, more invented arrangements. Here a rider can be found, but the picture does not behave like a travel view. Its pale field and sweeping blue diagonal organise the scene as strongly as any recognisable landform. The Lenbachhaus notes that Kandinsky did not label the canvas as one of his Impressions or Improvisations. The absence of those labels should not encourage a new invented series name. [1].
The rider was a recurring motif in Kandinsky's earlier work, from the small Blue Rider of 1903 to more crowded pictures before the First World War. Comparison can show how he changed the motif, but the riders here remain specific to this 1911 canvas. They are not an illustration of the later Blue Rider almanac, and the museum does not identify them as named people or soldiers. Their visual role is to concentrate the painting's scattered energy along the diagonal. [1]; [2].
The title and its later recollection
The word “romantic” can tempt a viewer to imagine a sentimental scene. Kandinsky's own later reflection was more complicated. The Lenbachhaus cites a 1930 letter in which he recalled a Romantic Landscape painted in 1910 and spoke of a future kind of romantic feeling that could hold opposite qualities together. The public museum essay does not make the letter an explanation of every brushstroke on the current canvas. It does show that the title was meaningful enough for Kandinsky to return to it many years later. [1].
The 1910 in that recollection and 1911 on the signed painting should be kept visible as a discrepancy. A remembered year after two decades may differ from a catalogue date, and the letter excerpt does not itself supply the object's dimensions or inventory number. The museum identifies the work before us as GMS 83, signed 1911. There is no need to infer another lost painting merely to make the two years agree. [1].
The title also avoids the comfortable idea that “romantic” equals soft. A blood-red sun, threatening dark masses and urgent riders give the image unease. The light field leaves room for movement and possibility rather than turning the whole canvas dark. These are readings prompted by the visible relationships and by the museum's account, not a fixed narrative that Kandinsky published for this painting. [1].
Object, collection and scale
At 94.3 × 129 cm, Romantic Landscape is substantially larger than many of Kandinsky's small cardboard landscape studies of the preceding years. It is an oil on canvas, allowing its broad pale field and strong coloured masses to occupy a generous horizontal span. The signed lower-right corner is easy to miss in a reduced image. The physical object's details are important precisely because the composition seems so spontaneous. A vigorous painted surface is still a documented and carefully held canvas. [1].
The Lenbachhaus lists a 1957 gift and credits the Gabriele Münter Foundation. Its public page does not give a detailed, continuous chain of earlier owners. The safe collection claim is that the painting is now in the Lenbachhaus, inventory GMS 83, and entered in that gift context. It should not be described as currently held privately or attached to a speculative dealer history. [1].
Romantic Landscape rewards two kinds of attention at once. A viewer can find three riders, a slope, side forms and a sun; then the eye can return to the blue diagonal, isolated red disc and open pale ground as an arrangement of painting itself. The Lenbachhaus's secure object record and its quoted later letter frame that experience without sealing the picture into one story. [1].
Kandinsky artworks directory
Frequently Asked Questions
The Lenbachhaus catalogues it as 1911 and records KANDINSKY 1911 on the canvas. Its essay also cites a later letter in which Kandinsky remembered a Romantic Landscape from 1910. [1].
The Lenbachhaus identifies three riders rushing across a sloping landscape, with a red sun, dark and ochre side forms, and a broad pale field. [1].
No such series designation appears in the owner catalogue. The Lenbachhaus explicitly notes that Kandinsky did not call this work an Impression or an Improvisation. [1].
It is oil on canvas, 94.3 × 129 cm. [1].
It belongs to the Lenbachhaus in Munich, inventory GMS 83. The museum records its entry as a 1957 gift in the Gabriele Münter Foundation. [1].
The cited museum record does not identify an exact road, hill or town. The painting should not be assigned a specific Murnau viewpoint on appearance alone. [1].
Discussion
What do you notice first in Romantic Landscape? 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 three riders first become visible along the diagonal?
How do the red sun and open pale ground change the feeling of the scene?
How should the signed 1911 date be weighed beside Kandinsky’s 1930 recollection of 1910?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below and tell us which part of the artwork led you to it.
References
- Lenbachhaus, Kandinsky, Romantische Landschaft: object record, image and curatorial essay. View source.
- Lenbachhaus, Kandinsky artist page and collection context. View source.
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