Wassily Kandinsky, 1866-1944

Gabriele Münter, Murnau

London, Marlborough Gallery, 1961, no. 22 (illustrated in the catalogue)
London, Marlorough Gallery, Kandinsky and his friends, 1966, no. 7 (illustrated in colour in the catalogue)

H.K. Roethel & J.K. Benjamin, Kandinsky, Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings, vol. I, 1900-1915, London, 1982, no. 155 (illustrated p. 165)

The canvas has been laid on board. The paint surface is a little dirty. There is a pin hold in the middle of the left hand edge. There are a few very minor chips to the paint surface in places. UV light reveals no apparent retouching. Held in a modern black painted wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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Rapallo, Seascape with Steamer, 1906 belongs to a series of oil sketches painted between 23 December 1905 and 30 April 1906 whilst Wassily Kandinsky and his partner, the German avant-garde painter Gabriele Münter, stayed in Rapallo on the Italian Riviera.

Seascape with Steamer is executed with the 'Rembrandt' technique, as the artist himself called it, owing to the complex mixtures of colour and the impasto. Kandinsky's palette knife marks are clearly visible in the ripples of the waves. The swirling, neo-impressionist clouds echo the surface of the sea, effectively reflecting its deep blue colour. The green water by the coastline is also mirrored in the sky and frames the work in an olive-green hue. Whilst the white steamer is hovering on the horizon like a dove, the gun-like black submarine on the right appears to threaten its serenity and add a touch of drama to the painting.

The offered lot is a wonderful example from Kandinsky's Rapallo series and displays many similarities in terms of palette and technique with several works, including Grey Day (1905), The Bay (1906) and Stormy Sea (1906), also executed during his stay on the Italian Riviera.

Despite the fact that Kandinsky's trips with Münter were intended for personal leisure and unrelated to artistic goals, the experience of travel had a significant effect on Kandinsky's art and his gradual path to abstraction.