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
Upward (Empor) by Wassily Kandinsky: Introduction
A slender structure rises through a blue-green field in Wassily Kandinsky's Upward. An orange arc, pale and pink halves of a circle, thin horizontal bars and black angular forms meet on a firm central vertical. It may bring a head or a figure to mind, yet its parts remain geometric and surprisingly light. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection records the painting under the German title Empor and the English Upward, dated October 1929. It is oil on paperboard, 70 × 49 cm, accession 76.2553 PG 35, in Venice. [1].
The owner describes an upward pull held in balance by the long central line. It also proposes a playful possibility: an angular form near the lower edge and a thin design at the upper right resemble the letter E, perhaps recalling the first letter of Empor. These shapes need not be forced into a single reading. They can act as letters, independent marks and parts of an imagined face at once. Kandinsky made the work during his Dessau Bauhaus years, in a period when he continued to test what simple forms could suggest beyond their geometry. [1].
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Watch on YouTubeAt a Glance
- Artist and owner title:Wassily Kandinsky, Upward (Empor).
- Date:October 1929, in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection record.
- Medium and size:Oil on paperboard, 70 × 49 cm.
- Collection:Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 76.2553 PG 35.
- Visible arrangement:A central vertical axis, orange and pale circular sections, pink lower segment, black stepped base and turquoise-green surround.
- Owner's reading:A sensation of ascent; possible E-shaped references to Empor; forms that can seem face-like without specifying a portrait sitter.
- Context:Made during Kandinsky's Bauhaus years at Dessau; the owner compares its physiognomic character with abstract heads shown by Alexej Jawlensky in 1929.
Where this work sits in Kandinsky’s career
The Blue Rider
1903Composition VII
1913Composition VIII
1923Several Circles
1926Upward (Empor)
1929Sky Blue
1940Contents
- A composition that rises
- The paperboard support and the painterly field
- Jawlensky, Klee and the Dessau Bauhaus
- Reading the title with care
- Frequently asked questions
- References
A composition that rises
The painting's title is an invitation to follow movement. A line runs up the centre from the black shape near the bottom through the circular elements. A curved orange section pushes to the left, while pale and pink sections assemble on the right. Their different weights are held together by the narrow vertical that crosses the form. The structure looks poised rather than perfectly symmetrical: each side contributes enough mass to steady the other. [1].
The background is not blank. Turquoise and green shift gently across it, giving the central geometry a floating space. Small soft patches lie in the lower half, well away from the crisp edges of the main form. Against this atmosphere, the circles and bars seem suspended, as if they could lift or rotate. Kandinsky avoids a painted horizon or visible ground. The sense of ascent comes from alignment, contrast and the pointed meeting of shapes rather than from a figure climbing an actual slope. [1].
At the top right, an isolated black design makes a second vertical and two short horizontal arms. The owner notices that it can resemble an E. The black stepped shape at the base of the main figure can also be read that way. The two forms echo one another across a large gap. They help carry the eye upwards and back down, so that “upward” becomes a repeated direction rather than an arrow at a single point. Their letter-like appearance remains the museum's proposed visual association, not a proven inscription by Kandinsky. [1].
The pale round area has a small dark spot near its middle. With the pink lower section and upright axis, it may suggest a face. The suggestion is strong enough to notice but too spare to identify a person. Kandinsky leaves the circular section readable as a shape even as the eye turns it into a head. The painting's energy depends on that flexibility. It can be seen as geometry first, a playful physiognomy second, then geometry again. [1].
The paperboard support and the painterly field
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection calls the medium oil on paperboard. That matters because online summaries sometimes turn every Kandinsky picture into an oil canvas. This work is a painted board, upright and relatively modest in scale. Its 70 × 49 cm surface gives the central form a close, concentrated presence. The support and brushwork also distinguish it from the flat-looking digital version of the image; the green field has variations, and the coloured shapes need not be thought of as mechanically filled diagrams. [1].
The outer field is soft, while the inner geometry is strongly edged. That opposition gives an apparently simple design depth and tension. The orange arc is warm and opaque against the cooler surrounding colour. The pale semicircle catches attention without being the brightest possible white. Pink spreads through the lower half of the circle, and black makes the lowest form unusually heavy. The sense of a rising object is therefore countered by a solid base. The museum's description of balance around the central line is visible in these unequal but coordinated weights. [1].
One can also see how few elements are needed. There is no dense network of crossing lines. A few curves, bars, angular blocks and colour fields do most of the work. If the form begins to look like a face, that recognition occurs with almost no conventional anatomy. If it looks like an architectural construction, it has no building function. Kandinsky keeps the relationships open while still making the structure visually precise. [1].
Jawlensky, Klee and the Dessau Bauhaus
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection relates the painting's physiognomic, or face-like, quality to Kandinsky's artistic surroundings at the Dessau Bauhaus. Its essay points in particular to Alexej Jawlensky, who exhibited sixteen abstract heads with the Blaue Vier in 1929. Jawlensky's coloured planes and bar-like features offered a contemporary model for a face made through non-naturalistic geometry. This is a curator's comparison, not a documented claim that Kandinsky copied one particular head. [1].
The museum then makes a useful distinction. It says Kandinsky's working method here resembled Paul Klee's more closely: forms could begin intuitively and gradually suggest something in the natural world. In that account, Jawlensky is more likely to begin with a model and abstract it. This helps explain why Upward remains ambiguous. A circular segment and dark point may arrive at something head-like without being a portrait that was simplified from a named sitter. The comparison is the owner's art-historical interpretation and should be read as such. [1].
The painting belongs to Kandinsky's Bauhaus period, but it is not merely a classroom demonstration of circle and line. Its title, possible letterplay and face-like tension give the geometry personality. The date October 1929 places it after his arrival at the Bauhaus and in the Dessau years. Rather than reducing feeling to a formula, Kandinsky lets a small set of shapes produce a dynamic image that can be apprehended both formally and imaginatively. [1].
Reading the title with care
Empor is the German title supplied by the owner and means upward. That word fits the central rise, but it does not identify a thing ascending. The repeated E-like forms add a different possibility: the title may play within the picture as a visual initial. The museum phrases this cautiously, as a possible reference. A viewer can enjoy the resemblance without turning it into a certainty or overlooking the formal role of the two black constructions. [1].
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection gives the English title Upward and the German Empor. The accession 76.2553 PG 35 makes the object identity unambiguous. The museum's collection is in Venice; current gallery placement can change, so its object page is the appropriate source to consult before visiting. [1].
Upward is memorable because it balances incompatible impulses without flattening them. Its forms feel as if they are rising, yet the black base holds them firm. They suggest a head, but remain geometric. Two shapes may resemble the first letter of the title, but also drive the composition through space. The owner record establishes its date, support and collection; its essay offers careful ways to notice the work's play between movement and recognition. [1].
Kandinsky artworks directory
Frequently Asked Questions
Empor means upward. That is the English title used by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. [1].
The owner dates the work to October 1929, during Kandinsky's Bauhaus years at Dessau. [1].
No. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection lists oil on paperboard, measuring 70 × 49 cm. [1].
Its shapes can look face-like, and the museum discusses its physiognomic character. It does not identify a portrait sitter. The circular sections also work as independent geometric forms. [1].
The museum proposes that two angular forms may play on the initial E of Empor. It presents this as a possibility, while also describing how the forms support the picture's upward movement. [1].
It is in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, accession 76.2553 PG 35. Check the owner's site for its current display. [1].
Discussion
What do you notice first in Upward (Empor)? 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 shapes create the sense of ascent around the central line?
How does the soft turquoise field affect the sharp-edged form?
When does the main figure seem face-like, and when does it remain geometry?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below and tell us which part of the artwork led you to it.
References
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Upward (Empor), 76.2553 PG 35. View source.
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Italian record Verso l'alto (Empor). View source.
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